Hurricane Fran was an exceptional storm in many ways and extremely important to CASI. It was the second hurricane of the season to hit Southeast North Carolina, after Bertha in July. Initially, estimates had landfall in North Florida or Georgia. Later, the forecast shifted northward to South Carolina, and residents of Charleston feared that it could be another Hugo. By the morning of the 5th, the day of landfall, forecasters still were estimating a South Carolina landfall, possible north of Charleston. By late afternoon, the guesses were closer to the NC/SC border, but the storm took a northerly advance, landing at Cape Fear, North Carolina, around 8:30pm EST.

After moving inland, original estimates (which also had placed the landfall in SC) showed the storm taking a northwestward turn to pass east of Charlotte NC and between Winston-Salem and Greensboro, NC. Charlotteans and residents of the Western Piedmont and Northern Foothills recalled the severity of Hurricane Hugo in 1989, which caused extensive damage as far inland as Virginia as it cut a path through the heart of Carolina. After landfall north of the forecast position, best bet was for it to take a track more north than west. It in fact went NNW, then turned to the NW, passing directly over Raleigh, NC about 3:30am on Sept. 6.

The devestation was not concentrated only on the coast, and in fact stretched to the Virginia border. Damage in the Raleigh county was extensive; power was lost at Headquarters for 59 hours, and the area was still crawling out of floods and debris weeks later. Several records were broken for the city, and the effects continued into 1997.

This storm was an excellent chance for CASI to collect observational data. It started with an attempt to travel to the coast for an LSI and ended with a PSI which lasted into the next year.

The amount of observational and media information from this storm was staggering. Five months later, we are still sorting out the data. Look for updates to these pages as we get more of our information organized regarding the "superstorm" of North Carolina in 1996.

Here is the information currently available on this webserver. Unanchored links will be added as the information continues to pour in.

• CASI Live Storm Investigation of Hurricane Fran

• A detailed account of our Investigation from the Coast to HQ

• CASI Live Discussion / Maps / Photos of Hurricane Fran

• Maps, Photos, Real Time Discussion and Commentary (Archived)

• CASI Post Storm Investigation of Hurricane Fran

• Maps, Photos (NEW!), Images, and Conclusions

• A Community Rebuilds Together

• Thanks go out to Raleigh area businesses and people for helping in a time of need.

• Frantastic: Hurricane Fran WWW Links

• Local and National archives exclusively about the Hurricane

• Fran Update: Feb. 1997: The Devestation Lingers On

• Over five months later, the debris is still being cleaned up in Raleigh, NC