I had finished another day of work and now began the Live Storm Investigation. Already in Raleigh there was a light breeze and dangerous looking clouds at the intersection of Hillsborough and Glenwood as I left work.

"Here we are in Raleigh... a couple of hours away from hurricane time..."

"People are already boarding stuff up here..."

I was surprised to see that here in Raleigh, several hundred miles from the expected landfall, that people had taped the windows of some downtown buildings and I wondered if people weren't going overboard for this storm. Two months earlier we had hurricane Bertha who's bark was worse than her bite.

The Scanner notes that wind damage has already occurred in Cumberland County.

"...we already have some heavy rain and pretty high winds, for just being this far out of town. But we're going to go a little bit farther east and see what we can pickup..." I explain.

I had done very well in preparing for this investigation, however I had only a half tank of gas.

With a 200 mile LSI ahead of me (in which stores would be closed [Hurricane Bertha taught me that]), I made a pit stop for fuel and snacks in Garner, NC, just off of the Interstate.

On the scanner, State EOC (Emergency Operations Center) is discussing shelters with a ham. Rain is light so far but the winds are gusty and unmistakeably from the south.

Rain is light to moderate in sheets, wind is gusty.

"winds are already 30,40 possibly higher gusts... it's already difficult to keep the car on the road and we're not that far south of Raleigh... so this storm is apparently not kidding around, cause these winds are not kidding around."

The wind is now high and gusty, and the rain is coming down in sheets. The car is rocking back and forth under dark clouds and the severity of the storm (still far away from our location) has become apparent.

"Oh my gosh, this has got to be magnitudes worse than Bertha, I had no idea of the difference in the two. I mean, I'm about to get blown off the road and I'm still 200 miles from the storm. Some of the worst that Bertha gave us... is what I'm getting now. I don't think I'm going to be able to make it much further because it's going to become too dangerous... as it is, I can barely hold the steering wheel. I mean Bertha, that was cool and all, with some wind and some rain, but... I don't know what the difference is but Fran is not kidding around. We could start seeing damage real soon yet the storm's still 200 miles away. Although I suspect that it will... possibly get better ahead if we're just going through a heavy feeder band. This is crazy. This storm is going to tear stuff up. Pretty soon it's going to be useless driving." [He exclaims as wind gusts hit the car] "Wind's strong enough that we're starting to see a little debris at the side of the road... and I'm getting blown around almost as much as I did during the Bertha adventure. I have to say at this point that it's going to be a little worse than I thought. Suspiciously I seem to be the only person on the road... heading this way."

The wind is very high, the rain is very heavy.

Sheets of rain wave across the road in front of the car like snow in a blizzard. The interstate itself is nearly shrouded in white.

The whole situation is a bit ethereal.

"I keep opening my eyes expecting to see a tornado... this stuff is raw!"

After taking some beautiful video of the phenomenon, I continue east on I-40.

We were out of range of most amateur radio operations at this time, but were now in range of WGNI, a radio station in Wilmington, NC, which had ceased all programming and was talking to the people of eastern NC as the storm approached. Viewers from all over SE NC were calling in. While the car was still and the rain only moderate, you could hear a caller from the Bradley Creek area explaining how boats are currently being crushed under a pier.

After leaving I-40 in hopes of a quick tour of the town to determine the current severity of the situation, I suddenly found the car running through several feet of water close to downtown, luckily I pulled out of it in about 30 seconds. The meteorologist at WGNI, heard barely over the rain in the car, noted that landfall was imminent at Cape Fear.

The wind is high, the rains are heavy. There is no power in the city.

In fact, we hadn't seen any power since we left the Interstate.

A large tree had fallen next to the road in someone's yard.

After seeing the first full-size tree down, I decided that, for safety, and for the fact that (especially with the power out everywhere) it was too dark to observe or take footage, I would head back to HQ in Raleigh. After consulting the road map and topomaps, I figured on following 117 north until it intersects I-40.

Attempting to do so would prove hazardous with many tree limbs and other debris blocking most of the roadway at times.

A quick video pan to the right indicates a Church sign sticking up out of the water.

Fortunately most of 117 in this area was crowned above the ground and deep water was not that much of a hazard on the roadway.

In the distance a transformer exploded.

Just as the eye was beginning to make landfall at Cape Fear, NC, with 115 MPH sustained winds, I pulled off to the side of the road to tape a highway sign twisting and jerking in the ground  as if possessed.

This is the cliche hurricane footage that everybody sees on television but one rarely takes while it is happening.

The rain and wind are both extreme now; winds are estimated at hurricane strength at our current location.

Over the roar of the rain you could barely hear the car radio; WGNI continued its live coverage with a constant stream of people calling in to report flooding to 10 feet above normal and trees crashing to the ground. The most common report of the evening: This storm was a duplicate of Hurricane Hazel in 1954. The WGNI meteorologist explains:

"All ashore that's going ashore, and Hurricane Fran has come ashore at Cape Fear, NC, battering the the Carolinas with 115 MPH winds. The National Weather Service, or the National Hurricane Center, says that the storm veered slightly to the east before the north wall of the 25-mile-wide eye passed over Cape Fear at eight o-clock this evening, the storm is headed towards Wilmington. Again, Hurricane Fran is moving towards the.. [sic]... with 115 MPH winds..."

I pulled off on a sideroad for a minute to check the maps to make sure that my route to the Interstate was correct.

As the wind and rain tore at my car I watched as the wind bent the green roadsign nearest to me back and forth. 

I had driven through and around immense amounts of debris... leaves cover the road to the point where the edge of the road cannot be determined; branches, limbs, and trees bobbed in the ever-rising flood waters.

Just before rejoining the Interstate, I paused to videotape the exit ramp and its associated signs, their metal legs twisting and turning trying to take flight. 

We were directly facing a sign which has a "Do Not Enter" sign directly facing us and a "Stop" sign on the opposite side. In the video the sign twists completely around and you can actually read the "Stop" on the other side.

OK, I was already having trouble with this one windshield wiper on the way down. The driver's side wiper had a tendency for the blade itself to slip out of the wiper assembly. Needless to say, driving through a hurricane with the wipers on high for 5 hours didn't do it a lot of good. I got so fed up with it (having to get out to push the blade back in every few minutes) that I switched it with and the passenger side wiper shortly after getting back on the Interstate.

About 10 miles later, during an immense gust of wind in which I had to struggle to stay on the road, I hear a light ding and the remaining wiper flies over the car into the night. Needless to say, driving in a hurricane without windshield wipers doesn't go over too well. Miraculously I am coming up on an overpass at the time and spend a good 15 minutes sitting in the car trying to wedge the old blade back in the original wiper then securing it to the driver's side.

The wind is immense, possibly the strongest of the evening, and is blowing through the underpass while I'm hanging halfway out of the car fixing the wipers. The rain is actually part mud at the time and I am covered with slime by the time I am through. At times I thought I would be crushed as the hurricane force winds tried to force the car door shut with me hanging out of it. Then, to beat it all, I feel something at my foot and look down to see a snake slithering through the water covering my feet. Fortunately I had just secured the wiper and was getting back in the car.

I had left the camcorder recording by accident when I got onto the Interstate, and although there was no video, the audio of the whole procedure was recorded. In the background, when it could be heard over the howling wind and rain, the reports continued to pour into WGNI over the radio. Many of the people near Wilmington were in the eye at this time and people were calling in to note the decreased winds and wind shift. One of WGNI's DJ's notes "Southport...has been reporting dead silence for some time now."

It had been a harrowing couple of hours driving through absolutely hellacious rain, wind, and darkness.

Finally I arrived back in downtown Raleigh sometime around 11PM. The rain was very heavy and the wind was high and gusty, but probably only 50 MPH or so at that time.

Most of the city appeared to have some amount of power, although, while the videocamera was running, a good portion of downtown went black.

I stopped by my place of work, Capitol Broadcasting Company, at 711 Hillsborough St. The idea was that I update my Tropical Weather Information Home Pages and download some pertinent weather information using my computer in the Internet division at work, then return home to Headquarters.

The rain was spraying off of cars in the parking lot like sea spray.

On my way in I tripped over the casing for a roof fan which had apparently recently ripped from the building's roof.

I checked in with the volunteers manning Interpath's 24-Hour Helpdesk. The hurricane had wiped out most of the eastern division of the state's local dial-in sites. Other than that things were OK. At 11:23 PM on the J's Tropical Weather Information: Fran Pages, I note:

Just returned from a trip down south to survey the weather. It was not apparent to me at first how much stronger this storm was than Hurricane Bertha. In the end, Fran took Bertha's path and came ashore in Wilmington. It continues to the north as of last statement. The current situation is thus:

Most of easternmost NC without power. Many trees downed, urban and rural flooding, and minor structural damage as far in as mid-carolina. Schools in eastern half of NC Closed tomorrow. Many businesses also closed. Here at Interpath, despite the work of our excellent technical engineers, we have been losing Point-of-Presence sites one after the other as the hurricane moves over them. Some areas of Raleigh are without power. Coastal damage is extensive, mostly in the same places that Bertha hit, but all areas got damage greater than they did with Bertha. Two major radio stations in the Triangle area have dropped off the dial in the past hour, and power is now beginning to blink here at Interpath.

Near the stroke of midnight, conditions began to rapidly deteriorate in South Raleigh. I was just heading out the door to return home when in the blink of an eye all power in the city was out and it was black as far as the eye could see except for transformer flashes.

At this time I returned inside to assist the Network Operations Center in getting generator power up and running for the Internet Division. During the next two hours, the first real damage began to occur in Raleigh. Despite being inside a strong, large brick building, it was a terrifying experience. The wind howled so loud we had to yell; forced by the hurricane-force winds now present, rain was pouring in through the walls, the ceiling, in places it had never been. Downstairs in the basement, there was water on the floor and the walls were seeping rain which threatened electrical breakers.

The door to the roof was slamming back and forth as if the hurricane intended to enter the building from the top. Outside, I could see the powerpole nearest the building rocking back and forth, backlit by exploding transformers in the distance.

Near 1AM I decided that it was time to make a break for it. I made an attempt to travel home on Glenwood Avenue. As soon as I left the parking lot of CBC, the power of the storm became apparent for the first time. Half a tree lay across the street from the parking lot.

On the video tape I note, "The city's gonna be a freaking disaster area by tomorrow." I knew not at that time how accurate that statement would prove.

On Hillsborough St, in front of the CBC building, a huge heavy metal historical sign lay on the street.

Limbs from the 100-year-old oak trees were tearing off and sailing away in the wind or crashing to the ground.

I continued on, not with streetlights but with exploding transformers to guide me.

The rain was heavy and driving; the wind had returned to near hurricane-force. When I turned onto Glenwood avenue in an attempt to drive back to HQ, I was faced with an entire tree blocking my lane. The wind was still very high and as I turned the wheel to drive around the fallen tree, it began sliding across the pavement towards me in a high gust of wind.

After maneuvering around it, I soon found there was one block of the city that somehow still had power.

I crossed Peace St. into the darkness, continuing on Glenwood until I came to a tree blocking the road. I would have to double back and make a U-Turn to continue down the wrong side of Glenwood. Before I did, though, I stepped out of the car to give the camera a clearer view of the roaring hurricane. In the audio recording clip you can hear me say before I am drowned out by the wind, "[sic]...your friendly Glenwood Avenue!" and at the end, "This is unbelieveable!"

Over the crest of the next hill, I stopped in advance of a small intersection in hopes of getting another quick outside shot of the road debris in front of me. I stepped out of the car, then darted back in and ducked after hearing an approching roar and catching something out of the corner of my eye.

When I raised the camera up from the floor, the view had changed with a whole tree down about five feet from the front of the car.

Instantly another large limb fell through the camera's view to land next to the car.

In the audio cut from the video, you can hear the seatbelt signal when the door opens, then the roar of the wind which increases just before I exclaim and duck into the car, slamming the door behind me. I exclaim again as something hits the roof then I note: "Oh Holy... my God, a tree just almost fell on my... oh my God." No sooner had I ended that sentence than something else hits the roof and I exclaim again. The clip ends with me saying "I better get the heck out of here..."

Another block later, I was back on the wrong side of the road again since I couldn't get past the tree that had just fallen in front of me. Leaves, branches, and torrential rains blew across the road  in sheets reducing visibility to zero, and I needed all the visibility I could get at that point; there was so much debris that I was lost on the road that I'd taken to and from work a thousand times.

Another two blocks later, blue flashing lights appear; a police car is blocking further access to Glenwood Avenue. I pulled next to the car and yelled through the howling wind, "I'm trying to get to Millbrook Road!" The policeman responds that ALL ROADS between here and there are closed and blocked with fallen trees, and suggests that I return from whence I came.

I once again picked my way back, driving around trees and limbs, back to the CBC building. On Glenwood I was momentarily blinded as I ran through deep water, and when I made the turn on to Hillsborough Street the rain was still heavy and leaves were dancing in the road.

I arrived again at the CBC building shortly after 1:30AM. Although much damage had been done, the rain was still very heavy and the winds were near hurricane force. "Aint MIX Nobody going to work in this stuff," I declared as I pulled into the RESERVED FOR MIX 101.5 ONLY space next to the doors.

Upon returning to Interpath I made these notes on the Tropical Information Page:

I am stuck here at work in South Raleigh. Things are very bad. We lost power to most of the city at midnight. Outside now there are semi-constant generator flashes as the lines come down and explode. Water has leaked into all areas of our building here and threatens our makeshift power-set-up. There are many trees down. I attempted to go back to my apartment at 1am, only to find that All major roads in Raleigh are closed at this time. I tried to go home by the main road, but a tree fell in front of my car and the police were blocking the road. I asked how to get back to Millbrook at which point they explained that all roads were closed and that was not possible. So here I am, I can't even get home to check on my house or belongings. The wind and rain here is equal to or greater than Hugo's inland damage. Although all we have here now is a 'vt' terminal, I caught a glimpse of a recent radar that shows that the Triangle area will go through some VERY heavy rains and winds for about another hour, then it should calm down.

I was betting that the only way to get back home to Headquarters is to take the I-440 Beltline. It comes within a couple of miles of home and is bound to be clear enough to travel. The way there was mostly dark, with useless stoplights flailing in the wind.

As I turned away from the CBC building and headed towards the NC State campus up Hillsborough St., the NWS attendant on the scanner could be heard in the roar to say, "Okay, ah, everyone is advised to stay away from windows and doors because of these strong gusts... [sic] ... several more hours...Raleigh Weather out [sic]"

Driving through the heart of NC State campus was driving through a sea of water, leaves, trees, power lines, and debris.

Miraculously a couple blocks of campus had retained power up to that point, but it was the last light I would see until morning. Part of an awning flew like a flag from a storefront.

I ran over some boards and plywood in the middle of the street that, I would find by morning, punctured my front tire. The roar of the storm was momentarily silenced by another report from Raleigh Weather over the scanner which in turn is interrupted by sirens from an approaching emergency vehicle:

"...Weather Service now places the center of the storm, which covers a large area over Johnston County... and any lulls that may be experienced will be followed by more high winds..."

A firetruck slammed through the ocean of water on Hillsborough St, followed by a car which hesitated for a moment under the twirling stoplights at the intersection.

After that, it was all darkness.

A few miles later, as I neared the Interstate Beltline, I paused in a sea of leaves to film a reminder of the storm, the green street sign at Faircloth and Hillsborough leaning out into the road.

Luckily from that intersection through the Beltline is mostly open space (near the State Fairgrounds) and I was able to travel without problem onto the I-440 Beltline.

About halfway home on I-440 I had to stop and wait a few minutes for an emergency crew to clear a hole for my car to fit through:

A full size tree had fallen across the Beltline. (Folks who know I-440 well will recognize the "Ridge Rd." exit sign behind the tree). After this it was only a few miles to where the Beltline intersected Glenwood again.

The last shot of the evening was from under the 440 Beltline on Glenwood Avenue, looking towards the Crabtree Valley Mall area. The rain was falling in sheets and there was not a light to be seen.

I was back, finally. The wind was still howling, things were still crashing, and the rain had not let up. Luckily the apartments at HQ looked to have not sustained any major damage at that time.

Although the storm was not done, I was, and after the 10-hour LSI, slept a few troubled hours occasionally awaking to the walls shaking as trees hit the ground in the backyard.