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on the case study site, New Hanover County, North Carolina.
Introduction
With much of the U.S. population living near the coast, development and economic pressures have turned shorelines into high hazard areas. While most coastal areas are vulnerable to an array of hazards including hurricanes, flooding, erosion, extra tropical cyclones, and sea level rise, hurricanes tend to pose the greatest threat to life and property along the U.S. east coast. The following case study takes a close look at the impact Hurricane Fran had on New Hanover County, North Carolina in 1996.On September 5, 1996, Hurricane Fran slammed into the Cape Fear area of the North Carolina coast as a category 3 storm, killing 26 people. The same region was struck only months earlier by Hurricane Bertha. Sustained winds reached 115 miles per hour (mph) and storm surges were up to 13 feet in some places. In addition to the devastation along the coast, heavy rains created extensive inland flooding from the Carolinas into Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Fran was the worst recorded natural economic disaster ever to occur in North Carolina. Nearly a half million tourists and residents were evacuated from the coasts of North and South Carolina, and damage and economic losses were estimated to be as high as 5 billion dollars.