> > > Several years back, we (myself and my family, plus several other family friends) were vacationing on the coast of North Carolina when Hurricane Bertha decided to come for a visit.

> > Mine was also in North Carolina, in the Outer Banks.

> I have a NC hurricaine experience too...

My little story would win no contests, but I just figured I'd add another account of a North Carolinian hurricane to the tally. Hurricane Fran came marching through in 1996, and it was definitely the most "fun" hurricane experience I've had. I remember hearing a tornado nearby while looking at our water-based barometer, which was overflowing (we thought the sound was an airplane's at the time; foolish, of course, but we didn't make the connection of what it really was until later). I also recall the power being knocked out for a week and the water supply being unexpectedly cut off: for several days, we had no running water, and when the water *did* return, it was a sickly brownish-gold color for a few days. As I remember, we brushed our teeth with seltzer water. Then there was the incident where I stubbed my toe in the dark and bled a lot; the wound had to washed out with club soda, due to the lack of running water at the time. (Club soda is salinated, by the way, but I don't remember it hurting that much.)

All in all, we were very lucky-- we just lost a several shingles and a sapling. This gigantic oak tree fell in the road a few hundred feet away, and of course there was the nearby tornado.

(Sidelight: My then-new elementary school was under construction at the time, slated to be finished sometime during the onslaught of Fran. Needless to say, the project was not completed for about three to four more months.)

Counter"Cool! The barometer's overflowing!"point