Hurricane
Isabel was a long-lived Cape Verde hurricane that reached Category
5 status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. It made landfall
near Drum Inlet on the Outer Banks of North Carolina as a Category
2 hurricane. Isabel is considered to be one of the most
significant tropical cyclones to affect portions of northeastern
North Carolina and east-central Virginia since Hurricane Hazel in
1954 and the Chesapeake-Potomac Hurricane of 1933. This
Storm had an unusual life and will go down in the history books as
a storm with a mind of its own.
Isabel formed from a tropical wave that moved
westward from the coast of Africa. The Tropical wave was
born on the 1st of September. Over the next several days, the wave
moved slowly in a westward motion. The Storm gradually
became better organized. By the 5th of September, there was
sufficient organization noted to the convection pattern of the
storm. Development continued, and it is estimated that a tropical
depression was born on the 6th September, with the depression
becoming Tropical Storm Isabel six hours later. This rapid
intensification was a little too quick to be considered the "norm"
for a tropical system.
On September the 7th the Tropical Storm was
transformed into a hurricane. The storm moved in a west
northwesterly motion keeping it in the warm tropics. This
slow steady motion over warm waters allowed this storm to grow in
strength and stability. September the 10th the hurricane
had
reached 160mph making it a Category 5 hurricane. On
September the 13th the powerful storm began to take a more
northerly track. This track would send it over the coast of
North Carolina.
On September 15th this Major Hurricane began to
weaken from wind shear. The storm was a strong Category 2
hurricane when it made land fall. The storm had a direct hit the
the outerbanks over Drum Inlet pushing the storm surge that had
built up since it was a Category 5 storm in front of it. The
surge of ocean water rushed over the banks and was pushed across
the Pamlico sound. The eye then moved over the most eastern
region of Carteret County pushing an 8 foot storm surge in front
of it. Many homes in this area were flooded do to this
sudden rush of water. Then the storm moved on it's way
through North Carolina and then Virginia.
The Flooding here in eastern Carteret County was
the worse seen here since the Chesapeake-Potomac Hurricane of
1933. Where this area received massive flooding as the
Pamlico sound flooded forcing water to rise from the opposite side
of the eastern region of Carteret County.
Report Written By ~ Phillip Laxton
Hurricane Isabel
