Hurricane Bertha July 5-14

[cycloneye]

This has been the more east storm formation in the Tropical Atlantic and occured in 1996.It had a favorable enviroment and formed in the same area that invest 96L was on tuesday.In Puerto Rico,it passed around 30 miles north of San Juan causing torrential rains and tropical storm force winds.However in Culebra and Vieques,damage was more extensive as the eye brushed those two islands.

[Wolfray1]

WE received Bertha here in eastern NC. It caused little damage except to North Topsail Island. It got pretty intense there. We later had Fran in Sept 96 and that was the real deal. Caused damage all the way into the Raleigh area. Then later the same year we got TS Josephine with lots of rain. 96 was a busy one for NC....

[Aric Dunn]

i remember they had to evacuate east coast of florida.. ..

[jrod]

We got some of the best waves I have ever seen in Florida the day after the evacuation. Unfortunantly I injured myself the day before on my basketball hoop that my brother drained the water ballast out of, I ended up lacerating my ring finger and getting about 14 stitches which wasn't as painful as having to be a spectator the next day.

[Aric Dunn]

We got some of the best waves I have ever seen in Florida the day after the evacuation. Unfortunantly I injured myself the day before on my basketball hoop that my brother drained the water ballast out of, I ended up lacerating my ring finger and getting about 14 stitches which wasn't as painful as having to be a spectator the next day.

yeah i left summer school to surf that day it was fun .. i surfed rc's where did you go .. ?

[jrod]

I was surfing at 13th in CB the day of the evacuation, the day I hurt myself. The next morning the wind was offshore and the swell was about as big as CB can handle, by the evening it had dropped to about chest high+. It was a mess trying to get sewn up, Cape Caneveral Hospital being on the barrier island was evacuating so I had my mom drive me through the hectic traffic to Rockledge. My finger looked so bad when and the whole ride over there I was worried my finger wouldn't make it. I have a nice scar and missing a chunk off the tip of my finger.

[Aric Dunn]

I was surfing at 13th in CB the day of the evacuation, the day I hurt myself. The next morning the wind was offshore and the swell was about as big as CB can handle, by the evening it had dropped to about chest high+. It was a mess trying to get sewn up, Cape Caneveral Hospital being on the barrier island was evacuating so I had my mom drive me through the hectic traffic to Rockledge. My finger looked so bad when and the whole ride over there I was worried my finger wouldn't make it. I have a nice scar and missing a chunk off the tip of my finger.

yeah .. i love when they evacuate... its so easy to go surf.. no one around except the surfers that know what there doing .. no O town kooks lol

[jrod]

They only storm my family ever evacuated for was Floyd, I am glad I got back to the beach ASAP the next day. Our area has been super lucky, I've never seen a major hurricane on record making landfall on the Space Coast.

[Aric Dunn]

They only storm my family ever evacuated for was Floyd, I am glad I got back to the beach ASAP the next day. Our area has been super lucky, I've never seen a major hurricane on record making landfall on the Space Coast.

not in my life.. jeanne was the closest one .. just two counties down..

i was standing on the beach with hurricane force gust during floyd

[jrod]

The space coast hasn't had one on the record books as far as I know. There was one in the 1880's but it is listed as a cat 2 at landfall, obviously there is no way to prove if it was stronger.

[NC George]

The eye of Bertha passed directly over my house.

[msbee]

Ah yes!
I remember Bertha
It passed over St. Maarten also.
I remember my husband went out to check on his business place, thinking the storm was over, and it wasn't..it was the eye of the storm , and he got caught in it on his way home.
Luckily it was not a very strong hurricane at the time, but it did cause St. Maarten some damage.
Barbara

[storms in NC]

Oh yeah good old Bertha. The start of many.

[Tstormwatcher]

I was living in Virginia Beach at the time and was getting ready to move to Havelock 2 weeks later. I left when Fran came because I was living in a trailer at the time. I live in a nice solid home now.

[HurricaneBill]

Bertha also strengthened quickly before her NC landfall. In the 12 hours prior to landfall, Bertha's sustained winds increased from 70KT to 90KT at landfall.