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October 1864: City looted and partially burned down by Confederate troops as a part of Sterling Price's raid. It was largely done due to being among the few pro-Union areas outside of St. Louis due to the predominantly German immigrants who were very pro-Union.
Both are weather related for Raleigh.
First there is the Thanksgiving weekend Tornado of 1988. Fortunately, only 2 lost their lives in Raleigh that night but the tornado carved a path of destruction for miles across a swath of NW Raleigh. It was a totally freak sort of storm that had no business being there in the late Autumn.
Second would be Hurricane Fran in Sept of 1996. As Fran hit Raleigh, it was a weak category 1 storm but the sheer volume of tree cover in Raleigh meant a lot of toppled trees on houses and power lines. Some parts of the city were without power for weeks as CP&L worked to untangle the mess and restore it. Clean up of felled trees took a year to complete with 'round the clock crews. Today, you probably wouldn't even notice that the city was missing trees. Raleigh has so many trees that the hurricane was like a minor thinning in the overall picture.
From a personal standpoint, the worst big news event from my hometown of Los Angeles was last week's arrest of an old friend I grew up. He is a suspected serial killer. We grew up a few blocks from each other, same neighborhood, same schools (he is a few years older than me but was my brother's classmate in elementary and high school; his sister was a classmate of mine for many years), our families knew each other...not real close, but participated in community events, PTA, etc.
To see this in the news last week was beyond shocking. I have not been in contact with him in many, many years, but it was a shock just the same.
From a personal standpoint, the worst big news event from my hometown of Los Angeles was last week's arrest of an old friend I grew up. He is a suspected serial killer. We grew up a few blocks from each other, same neighborhood, same schools (he is a few years older than me but was my brother's classmate in elementary and high school; his sister was a classmate of mine for many years), our families knew each other...not real close, but participated in community events, PTA, etc.
To see this in the news last week was beyond shocking. I have not been in contact with him in many, many years, but it was a shock just the same.
For Charlotte, it's probably either: Hurricane Hugo in '89, the Hornets packing up and moving to New Orleans in '02, or the Rae Carruth/Fred Lane murders (in Carruth's case he was the murderer) in '99 and '00.
I'll agree with rnc on Raleigh's events, although I think the North Hills shooting in 1972 could also make the list.
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