On the night of Sept. 6, 1996, Chapel Hill experienced its greatest natural disaster in living memory. Hurricane Fran pushed ashore near Wilmington and in the predawn hours dumped eight inches of rain on the town, but the worst damage came from falling trees, toppeled by a combination of strong winds and saturated soils. The mayor declared a state of emergency as the town awoke impassable roads and no electricity. Many had no idea of the scope of the disaster as they made futile attempts to use the roads. The electricity remained out for many days. Here is the story in pictures.
A woman in the Morgan Creek area clears debris from her bedroom. On the night that Fran hit the family huddled on a waterbed in this room as the storm raged outside. A tree fell directly on the room, splintering the rafters that fell and cut the father on his head. His wife made her way through the darkened house to the refrigerator where she found a bag of frozen peas that she used to stop her husband's bleeding. The family left the house and made their way through the storm to a neighbor where they found safety.
At McCorkle Place on the UNC campus, a student passes one of the massive oaks toppled by the storm.
The county landfill burned day and night to handle the tremendous amount of tree waste.
Vance Street in central Chapel Hill was widely regarded as the most heavily damaged street.
At Jordan Lake, the dam was opened to release the flooded reservoir.
In Chapel Hill, the storm has flooded the water plant, causing OWASA to declare the water undrinkable. Residents had to use bottled water for their needs.
Jordan Lake flooded from the eight inches of rain associated with the storm, as well as heavy rains the day before.
Workers cut a massive oak from a house on Vance Street in Chapel Hill. The storm caused no fatalities in Orange County, but in neighboring Durham County, a firefighter died when a tree fell on the cab of his fire vehicle as he was responding to an emergency call.
The corn crop at Maple View Farm was largely ruined by the wind damage.
UNC cancelled classes for a day so students could help clean up the campus.
Students got a good workout.
As classes resumed, students perched on fallen trees to study.
Firework that winter was very easy to come by.
