Hurricane Fran slammed into North Carolina's southern coast on September 5, 1996, with sustained winds of approximately 115 MPH and gusts as high as 125 MPH. Just prior to landfall to Fran, a small portion of north western Carolina, Bat Cave, Chimney Rock, and Lake Lure areas received up to 11 inches of rain in a three hour period. The rains were the results with about 70 homes and businesses destroyed or damaged. Fran caused not only damage to the east coast but also to the western part of North Carolina.
Fran was a Cape Verde hurricane that moved across the Atlantic during the peak of the hurricane season. It make landfall on the North Carolina coast as a category three hurricane, resulting in significant storm surge flooding on the North Carolina coast, widespread wind damage over North Carolina and Virginia and extensive flooding from the Carolinas to Pennsylvania. Hurricane Fran formed a tropical wave that emerged from the west coast of Africa on the twenty second of August. The tropical depression moved westward for the next few days. It became a tropical storm Fran August 27th located about 9000 miles east of the Lesser Antilles. Fran was moving northward when it made landfall on the North Carolina coast. The center moved over the Cape Fear area September 6th, but the circulation and the ratio of maximum winds were large and hurricane force winds likely extended over much of the North Carolina coastal areas of Brunswick, New Hanover, Pender, Onslow, and Carteret counties.
Fran weakened to a tropical storm while centered over central North Carolina and then to a tropical depression while moving through Virginia. The tropical cyclone gradually lost its warm core as it moved over the eastern Great Lakes. Several tornados were sighted by radar in North Carolina and Virginia as a result of Fran. The rainfall totals exceeded six inches near the path of Fran. Extensive flooding spread well into the Carolina's, Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
