National Weather Service records that go back to 1806 indicate more than 70 tropical systems have made a direct landfall on North Carolina. Meanwhile, researchers believe another 100 storms made a severe impact on the state even if they crashed ashore somewhere else.

Hyde County Farm Bureau Member Ray Spencer remembers one of the worst ever to hit the state—Hurricane Hazel back in 1954.

“We had not had any real bad hurricanes until Hazel,” says Spencer, who now is 87 and served as the County Board President for close to 20 years and also served on the  state board of directors for quite some time.

“We had high tide right here in our yard. It got waist deep. It was a vicious storm that came in and struck real quick then went right back out,” Spencer says.

What compounded the problem was not just the amount of water on the farmland but the kind of water. Spencer recalled how the soil was altered for several years because of saltwater from Pamlico Sound that affected his farm, which is just three feet above sea level. Tons of gypsum, what Spencer said county natives used to call “land plaster,” were applied to absorb the excess sodium so crops could grow again.

“You could take your finger and run it down the row and it was salt. There’s no question about it. You can’t grow anything on that type of soil until you get it out,” Spencer says.

The predicament hurricanes leave North Carolina farmers might be the most extreme in the case of growers like the Spencer family of Hyde County. Ray’s son Glenn Spencer is now the County Board President and farms more than 1,600 acres.
“The people who haven’t experienced salt in the soil don’t have any correlation about what it can do to you,” Glenn Spencer says. “If there’s a sodium buildup in the soil, it tightens the soil up so it can’t release the nutrients.”

Whether it’s getting corn harvested before the peak of hurricane season arrives in September or hoping cotton won’t be ruined if floodwaters come in October, North Carolina farmers have had to keep tabs on potential storm tracks for decades.
Jeff Orrock, the warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Raleigh, explained why this state is so susceptible to hurricanes and tropical storms.

“Geographically, we’re vulnerable just from our location because we are just so far out into the Atlantic,” Orrock says, adding only Texas and Florida are more prone to be affected by hurricanes than North Carolina.

Beyond Hurricane Hazel, several storms have left vicious marks on North Carolina.

Farmers throughout the Eastern part of the state readily remember the agricultural disaster Hurricanes Dennis and Floyd caused in 1999. Residents in Western North Carolina witnessed historic flooding in 2004 stemming from Hurricanes Frances and Ivan that originally made landfall on the Gulf Coast. In 1989, Hurricane Hugo blasted 90 mph winds in downtown Charlotte though it came ashore in South Carolina.

“There’s really no part of the state that’s immune to these things,” Orrock says.

So what could this year’s hurricane season hold? Orrock believes atmospheric conditions in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans could make for a rocky time in North Carolina if all the ingredients come together for breeding severe storms.

“The last time North Carolina got a direct hit from a significant hurricane was back in 2003 with Hurricane Isabel. Fast-forward seven years and we really haven’t had to deal with one,” Orrock says. “We may be getting overdue for a significant hurricane.”