Hurricane Hazel
Oak Island, Brunswick County, North Carolina
Marker Inscription
Hurricane Hazel. Category 4 storm made landfall at Long Beach, October 15, 1954, with winds over 140 mph & 17-foot surge. Nineteen people killed in N.C.
Erected by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
The Story
On October 15, 1954, Hurricane Hazel roared ashore near Long Beach as a Category 4 storm, driving winds of more than 140 mph and a 17-foot surge across North Carolina's low barrier islands. The storm flattened much of the coast and killed nineteen people in the state before racing far inland. It remains one of the most destructive hurricanes in the region's recorded history.
Why it matters
Hazel reshaped how coastal North Carolina builds, warns, and prepares for the storms that define life along the Atlantic shore.
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Related events
- · Hurricane Hazel
Themes & tags
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