What is the best place to live in NC near a beach without hurricane destruction? (Winston-Salem: condos, hotel)

[goi_cuon]

Per NOAA, "Typical hurricanes are about 300 miles wide although they can vary considerably in size."http://hurricanes.noaa.gov/pdf/hurricanebook.pdf

When I lived in Florida, we always planned to evacuate from our coastal county to my sister's house in Lakeland, which is pretty centrally located between the coasts ( 60 miles to Clearwater beach, 100 miles to Cocoa Beach). But she got hit with hurricane force winds twice in 2004 with significant wind damage.

But a hurricane is not like a tornado - it's not going to sneak up on you unless you let it. Don't let fear dictate where you choose to live.

Best of luck to you on your relocation!

[trlhiker]

There is no place within 100 miles of the coast where you would be absolutely safe from a hurricane whether from flooding rains, to high winds, to tornados, to storm surge. We just learn to live with it and make sure you have good insurance.

[Catrick]

Originally Posted by goi_cuon

Per NOAA, "Typical hurricanes are about 300 miles wide although they can vary considerably in size."http://hurricanes.noaa.gov/pdf/hurricanebook.pdf

When I lived in Florida, we always planned to evacuate from our coastal county to my sister's house in Lakeland, which is pretty centrally located between the coasts ( 60 miles to Clearwater beach, 100 miles to Cocoa Beach). But she got hit with hurricane force winds twice in 2004 with significant wind damage.

But a hurricane is not like a tornado - it's not going to sneak up on you unless you let it. Don't let fear dictate where you choose to live.

Best of luck to you on your relocation!

I agree. I lived in Ft. Lauderdale but further inland. We never had to evacuate but it is a good idea to have a place to go if you have to leave and go early to avoid traffic..

We got hit by Wilma. They confirmed it was a cat 1. Everyone who went through it and saw the devastation after didn't quite believe it. I didn't when I saw my walls moving in and out. And that is why we live further inland now. So a healthy respect for Mother Nature is a good thing.

Thank you too for your service and good luck to you and your family. North Carolina is a beautiful place!!!

[E. Nomine]

Originally Posted by Richard Martin

My point was that hardly anybody that is alive today, and has always lived in NC, has been through a bad hurricane. Taking the advice from someone that has never been through one over the advice of the NWS is a bad idea.

I beg to differ. Like has been said when Fran ran through in 96' it totally upended my neighborhood. In Rocky Mount it is still talked about. It flooded half of Parker Middle School and ALL the businesses on N. Church St. Draka, the Powder Keg, RBC's HQ. The flood water was so bad my grandmother's theatre was 6' under water and eventually got closed. Many of our Parks were ruined and the local Lowe's, which had only been open for two years, well, they had to go across the street to retrieve all their product as the water had carried it away. The have markers on some of the uprights showing how high the water got.

Now, I am sorry to have a such a negative first post, but I decided to create an account simply based on that. I hope that I do not come off wrong.

To the OP. Living in NC there are occasional hurricanes and the state does provide you the freedom moving an hour or two inland and exponentially decreasing your chance of being hit hard by a hurricane. I understand that you want a 10-15 min jot to the beach but that will be hard to come by, but I would suggest trying towards the Northern reaches of the State as, if memory serves correctly, very few hurricanes ever enter from the East/North East.

I wish I could help better with the job placement and housing but I believe that has been summed up quite well.

Good luck and I hope everything works out, Thanks for your service.

[rubber_factory]

Originally Posted by macjr82

Hurricanes sound scary if you've never been through them but in reality, I've seen thunderstorms and down bursts worse than hurricanes.

You've gotta be kidding me.

You've obviously never walked outside during the eye of a category 4 hurricane, seen what's been destroyed, knowing that it's only halfway over.

Hurricanes just cover a larger area and have high wind speeds. Being right on the coast (coast, not the beach) is actually safer b/c typically all the water from further inland empties out in to the ocean and the sounds. Further inland, along the rivers experience more flooding.

Safer from flooding, probably, judging on the past hurricanes of eastern NC. Not safer from wind, or storm surge.

[LRoyal10900]

Fran practically took N. Topsail & Emerald Isle off the map. I was living in Sampson County at the top, at least 100 miles inland, and that night was the scariest night I can ever remember. Hurricane Floyd would be the 2nd scariest night of my life!

After Fran, we were without electricity for a week. I had to take my 4 month old daughter to stay with my aunt & uncle who had electricity (they lived in Hope Mills) and water. Once I was able to come home, I had to go to the Red Cross to try to get more formula for my daughter...and when they couldn't get the special formula she needed, one of our county commissioners, who happened to be there, went several places and located it for me and bought me several cans--and refused to take payment for it!

After Floyd, we had flooding this far inland, for at least a good month or so. We had many roads closed in our area due to flooding. I can remember going across a road one evening and the water was almost level with the bridge....as I came back across it to go home later that evening, the water was running across the bridge! I had connections at the 911 center, and I had to call them (on the non-emergency number) for them to tell me which roads were open and help me get a route home.

[macjr82]

Originally Posted by rubber_factory

You've gotta be kidding me.

You've obviously never walked outside during the eye of a category 4 hurricane, seen what's been destroyed, knowing that it's only halfway over.

Safer from flooding, probably, judging on the past hurricanes of eastern NC. Not safer from wind, or storm surge.

You're not safer from wind, but you can do alot to prepare for wind, as the links I posted earlier show, soft ground and wind from TS can do hurricane like damge, albeit on a much smaller scale. storm surge has not historically proven much of an issue unless you live on a beach front community.

I actually grew up In havelock so I've been through Fran, Emily, bertha, Dennis, TS Dennis, Floyd, and others I can't even recall.

We used to go out in this field during the hurricane and let the air catch under our shirts and it would lift us off the ground, we'd tie sheets or blankets to our bike and skate boards. I also know marines who served on Cherry Point during this time period and they'd parachute off the third floor balcony using sheets.

My wife was in Jones County during Floyd and they got evacuated to Morehead City, closer to the coast. I'll admit, everything i wrote is anecdotal, based off my experience.

Also don't mistrue my statements to mean that Hurricanes are nothing to worry about, I was just trying to get across that you can be a victim of severe weather anywhere in NC and are nothing to overreact which I see often from people not from the local area when I was stationed on Cherry Point.

On another note, category is not evertything, Floyd was only a cat 2 when it hit NC and look what it did due to the rain and the water levels already being sky high from Dennis (twice).

[Catrick]

Another problem with hurricanes is the tornadoes they produce. Andrew went through Homestead which was 40 miles south of us. We got tropical storm force winds and apprently some tornadoes. Near where we lived was a section that had trees uprooted and tossed around and many houses, including ours, sustained damage that tropical storm winds would not produce. I don't remember if the NWS verified that because all the focus was on where Andrew hit and the people there. We were all focusing on them be the state and Feds were a little slow in getting help there. But that's another story....

[macjr82]

concerning floyd and hurricanes in general

Originally Posted by Bill Hitchcock

No-Flooding was not a problem. Most of the rain fall was inland of Morehead. And the worst flooding usually comes days after a storm as the inland creeks and rivers swell.
Often times the folks that evacuate can not get back for days or even weeks because of the inland flooding all the while we here on the coast are in essence-high and dry.
I have included a rainfall map of the Floyd Event. You'll see that most of the coast got the least of the rain/flooding albeit the Wilmington/Southport area did.

[Ebediel]

I've lived in Moyock, NC for the last 12 years. We have weathered 4 hurricanes. While none were considered "Major" by some of the standards listed above they were all powerful enough storms that did lots of damage. We left for 2 of the storms (Bonnie and Isabel) we stayed for 2 (Dennis and Floyd). We watched the weather reports and made decisions based upon how bad the storms were. Isabel was probably the worst storm but only Bonnie killed people in our county. They were both bad enough that we felt we should leave. If you're gonna live by the coast you learn to prepare and watch the weather and you do what's best for your family. Just as you would for blizzards in the north, earthquakes in west, floods in the middle part of the country, etc, etc. We live 45 mins from the beach and we go whenever we feel like it. It's great!
Elizabeth City is probably not the best place around to raise children as the city has some severe problems with gangs, crime and drugs. If you have to be in the city I would probably recommend either Virginia Beach or Wilmington. If it has to be a city and hurricanes scare you that bad I'd recommend VA Beach.
If you don't mind things being a little more rural Currituck county is nice and is a fairly nice place to raise a family. Me? I like Moyock just fine. We are within 30 mins of Norfolk, Va Beach, and Elizabeth City and 45 mins from Kittyhawk and the sun and sand.