assault on Wilmington, NC
Initial Rain Band || Winds Increasing... || Storm's Peak || Damage || Cleanup
Hurricane Charley was a category 1 hurricane when it made landfall
on the Carolina coastline late in the morning on Saturday, August
14th, 2004. Charley had been a category 4 storm the previous day
when it made landfall between Tampa and Naples, FL, causing tremendous
destruction and loss of life.Despite strong southwesterly wind shear over the hurricane, Charley kept a very tropical wind structure as it moved across the Wilmington area between noon and 3 pm. Winds here were generally less than 15 mph only 90 minutes before the center of the storm moved through. Wind speeds rapidly increased after the first rain band crossed the area. This rain band dropped torrential rainfall, including 0.40" in only 5 minutes between 11:40 and 11:45 am!
Shortly after my weather station recorded a 42 mph gust, my power went out and remained out until 12:30 pm on Sunday, August 15th. My highest gust was 58 mph recorded at 1:51 pm on the 14th. Total rainfall for the day was 2.68 inches.
Other high winds around the area were:
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Even after the power was out, I kept snapping pictures during and after the storm. Here are the pictures, organized by what was going on when they were taken.
CLICK ON THE IMAGES BELOW FOR ADDITIONAL PICTURE PAGES
