page_title: Hurricane Fran
section_title: North Carolina
hierarchical_section_title: Hurricane Fran / Impact / North Carolina
caption_attribution_description: English: undetermined, NC, 09/06/1996 -- Some beach front property became uninhabitable due to damage by Hurricane Fran. FEMA News Photo
context_page_description: Hurricane Fran caused extensive damage in the United States in early September 1996. The sixth named storm, fifth hurricane, and fourth major hurricane of the 1996 Atlantic hurricane season, Fran developed from a tropical wave near Cape Verde on August 23. Due to nearby Hurricane Edouard, the depression remained disorganized as it tracked westward, though it eventually intensified into Tropical Storm Fran on August 27. While heading west-northwestward, Fran steadily strengthened into a hurricane on August 29, but weakened back to a tropical storm on the following day. On August 31, Fran quickly re-intensified into a hurricane. By September 2, Fran began to parallel the islands of the Bahamas and slowly curved north-northwestward. Fran peaked as a 120 mph Category 3 hurricane by early on September 5. Thereafter, Fran weakened slightly, before it made landfall near Cape Fear, North Carolina early on September 6. The storm rapidly weakened inland and was only a tropical depression later that day. Eventually, Fran curved east-northeastward and transitioned into an extratropical cyclone over Ontario early on September 9.
context_section_description: Fran caused coastal damage from the South Carolina border to Topsail Island, North Carolina. Its 12-foot storm surge carried away a temporary North Topsail Beach police station and town hall, housed in a double-wide trailer since Hurricane Bertha's rampage across the same area in July. The Kure Beach Pier was destroyed during the storm as well. Extensive flooding struck the coast around Wrightsville Beach, just up the coast from Cape Fear. In Jacksonville, North Carolina, three schools and several homes were damaged. The storm was most damaging to the barrier islands on the North Carolina coastline.
  Inland, the storm caused damage on its way north from Wilmington to Raleigh.  Unexpectedly, high wind damage extended along the I-40 corridor up through Raleigh and points north and as far west as Guilford County, damaging historic buildings and trees throughout the Triangle including at North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina  Classes were canceled for the day at UNC due to a state of emergency in Chapel Hill, and it was almost a week before the university's water supply was drinkable again.
  Rain of up to 16 inches (406 mm) deluged interior North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia, bringing dangerous river flooding to much of the mid-Atlantic. Hurricane Fran's thrashing of North Carolina aggravated the state's problems caused by numerous weather disasters in 1996.
  At least six people were killed in the Carolinas; most of them were from auto accidents and more died as a result of the shock from the damage of the storm. In North Carolina, 1.3 million people were left without power. In North Topsail Beach and Carteret County, there was over $500 million (1996 USD) in damage and 90% of structures were damaged. One male teenager died from drowning caused by flooding of Crabtree Creek at Old Lassiter Mill in Raleigh. Fran also destroyed the Basketball Gym on the Campus of St. Andrews College in Laurinburg, North Carolina. Hurricane Fran also destroyed 3 piers in Surf City.
  Total damage in North Carolina amounted to over $2.4 billion.
  This was the second hurricane to hit North Carolina that year.  The first was Hurricane Bertha, which hit the state a few weeks prior.
caption: A home destroyed by Fran along the North Carolina coastline
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