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.

The coastal region where Hazel made landfall was also battered by some of the most destructive winds in North Carolina's history. Estimates of 150-mph extremes were reported from several locations, including Holden Beach, Calabash, and Little River Inlet. Winds of 98 mph were measured in Wilmington and were estimated at 125 mph at Wrightsville Beach and 140 mph at Oak Island. As Hazel swept inland, its winds endured with freakish intensity. Grannis Airport in Fayetteville reported gusts of 110 mph, and estimates of 120 mph were made by observers in Goldsboro, Kinston, and Faison. At the Raleigh-Durham Airport, the wind-speed dial was watched closely during the storm, and gusts to 90 mph were recorded around 1:30 p.m. Most incredibly, wind gusts near 100 mph were reported from numerous locations in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York as Hazel curved a path through the Northeast on its way to Canada.

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.

By most accounts, it was the most destructive hurricane in Tar Heel history. In North Carolina the toll was heavy: nineteen people killed and over two hundred injured; fifteen thousand homes and structures destroyed; thirty-nine thousand structures damaged; thirty counties with major damage; and an estimated $136 million in property losses. But when the hurricane's effects in North Carolina are combined with those of the other states, as well as with those of Canada and Haiti, the numbers climb: over six hundred dead and an estimated $350 million in property damage. And of course, the damages are in 1954 dollars.

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.