The Significance of the letter F

12/1/2020 (Permalink)

Many of us who have lived in North Carolina for a while cringe when we hear that a tropical system with a name that starts with the letter F has formed. Some of the most destructive hurricanes that have hit the state in recent history have started with F. Hurricane FRAN was the last category 3, or major hurricane, to make landfall in North Carolina. It came inland on the evening of September 5, 1996 near the mouth of the Cape Fear River. Fran left a path of destruction from the coast to the central part of the state. Hurricane FLOYD's winds were not as strong as Fran, but its heavy rain caused more deaths and destruction than Fran. Hurricane Floyd caused an estimated $6 billion in damage and killed 57 people in the U.S. Thirty-five of those deaths were in North Carolina. More recently, hurricane FLORENCE caused flooding that was even more catastrophic than Floyd in some parts of southeastern North Carolina. Florence was a category 1 storm based on wind speed when it made landfall near Wrightsville Beach on September 14, 2018.