The storm surge that Hazel delivered to the southern beaches was the greatest in North Carolina's recorded history. The flood reached eighteen feet above mean low water at Calabash. Hazel's surge was made worse by a matter of pure coincidence--it had struck at the exact time of the highest lunar tide of the year--the full moon of October. Local hunters often refer to this as the "marsh hen tide," a time when high waters tend to flush waterfowl out of the protective cover of the marsh grass. Hazel's storm tide may have been boosted several feet by the unfortunate timing of its approach.
Hazel's violent winds hacked or toppled countless trees across eastern North Carolina. In the aftermath of the storm, some sections of highway were littered with "hundreds of trees per mile." Some were uprooted and tossed about, and others were snapped off ten to twenty feet above the ground. In the city of Raleigh, it was reported that an average of two or three trees per block fell. Many fell on cars, homes, and other structures, and power lines were left tangled and broken. Dozens of other cities and towns in the eastern half of the state faced similar losses. In North Carolina, the destruction left by Hazel was likened to the battlefields of Europe after World War II. Evidence of the storm's violent winds stretched across the state, leaving residents with the task of cleaning up virtually every city street and country road in the eastern half of the state. And the storm tide that swept over the Brunswick and New Hanover beaches brought massive destruction to the coast and was, by all accounts, unparalleled in Tar Heel history.
The great hurricane of October 1954 became a benchmark in the lives of many North Carolinians who endured the storm. From Holden Beach to Henderson and everywhere in between, anytime the topic of hurricanes is raised, stories about Hazel are sure to follow. Stories of heroic rescues and tragic losses are well remembered, as are testimonials to the awesome destructive forces the storm displayed. Hazel ranks as one of the most catastrophic hurricanes to strike the United States in the twentieth century. Fortunately, storms of its magnitude are relatively rare events, and few other hurricanes deserve comparison with it. But much to the dismay of the people of eastern North Carolina, the active 1954 hurricane season that had spawned Carol, Edna, and Hazel was merely a prelude to the 1955 season, when three more storms would strike the state.
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