. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. _5"w Photo courtesy of NOAA Surviving Hazel, the hard way. Eye of a hurricane The water rose. Dishes crashed and furniture bounced like billiards after a break shot. Connie Helms could feel the water lapping against the ceiling of the first story beneath her. It was October 15, 1954. Earlier, Hurricane Hazel had been churning in the Caribbean, while Connie and her husband made their way to Long Beach, for their honeymoon. Connie never thought the storm would hurl its weight at North Carolina. But the
. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. _5"w Photo courtesy of NOAA Surviving Hazel, the hard way. Eye of a hurricane The water rose. Dishes crashed and furniture bounced like billiards after a break shot. Connie Helms could feel the water lapping against the ceiling of the first story beneath her. It was October 15, 1954. Earlier, Hurricane Hazel had been churning in the Caribbean, while Connie and her husband made their way to Long Beach, for their honeymoon. Connie never thought the storm would hurl its weight at North Carolina. But the rains began, then the winds. Waves broke through the dunes and water covered the main road. The Helms were trapped on the island. They abandoned their one-story cot- tage for a two-story frame house nearby. From the second-story windows Connie watched the fury of the hurricane unfurl. Winds ripped some houses apart. Waves toppled cement- block houses as if they were built of toy blocks. Other houses rode the waves, crashing into one another. Whirling winds made flying projectiles out of boards, furniture and tree limbs. As the waters rose higher and finally began lapping the first-story ceiling below their feet, the Helms realized their shelter might topple with the next crash of a wave. To escape, they pushed a mattress out of the window into waters that swirled just inches below the second-story window frame. Connie Helms perched herself on top of the mattress. She and her new hus- band tied themselves together with a flannel blanket. Jerry Helms dropped into the water, catching one corner of the mattress. He pushed the couple away from the house and caught a chunk of floating wall to add buoyancy to the mattress. He knew his 17-year- old bride could not swim. A lot has happened in Connie Helm's life since that October day in 1954. She is now Connie Ledgett, liv- ing in Southport and serving as ex- ecutive secretary of the Southport/Oak Island Chamber of Commerce. But her mem
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookcollectionunclibra, booksubjectoceanography
