30 Years Later: Reflecting on Bertha and Fran

Thirty years ago, in the summer of 1996, two back-to-back storms left their mark on Eastern North Carolina, securing their place in local history.

Late on July 12, 1996, early in the Atlantic storm season, Category 1 Hurricane Bertha made landfall just south of Topsail Beach, with winds reaching 105 mph. In Onslow County and surrounding areas, the storm destroyed more than 200 structures and left thousands without power for days.

Bertha was the strongest storm of its kind to directly impact the area in more than a decade, catching many locals off-guard as they weathered the storm and protected their homes and families. Just two months later, as the area continued to recover from the effects of Bertha, another, much stronger storm approached the coast of North Carolina.

On September 5, 1996, Hurricane Fran made landfall near Cape Fear as a Category 3 storm, with devastating winds nearing 120 mph. Across the state, the storm caused 14 fatalities and more than $1 billion in damage. Locally, in addition to high winds, Fran brought 12-foot storm surge and heavy rainfall, resulting in damage to thousands of homes and businesses, including 90 percent of structures at North Topsail Beach; the destruction of fishing piers; and widespread power outages.

At the time, Jones-Onslow EMC had not experienced a storm of this magnitude in years, if ever. One longtime co-op employee said he had never seen devastation like he did in 1996, and that he hasn’t seen anything quite like it since. He recalled line crews working to restore power in floods with snakes and ant rafts floating by; he remembered crews working for hours on end to serve members to the best of their ability; and he looked back, remembering some of the roads the co-op used to service on Topsail Island being completely destroyed.

These storms presented unprecedented challenges for JOEMC as crews restored power to thousands of affected members, across our entire service area. Some of these challenges included limited access to bucket trucks and vehicles with four-wheel drive and weight capacities that could handle heavy transformers; limited communication abilities beyond two-way radios; and a dispatch system that largely relied on issues being called in by members.

Today, advancements in technology and lessons learned have made your co-op much more prepared to handle widespread outages. JOEMC now employs a large fleet of vehicles prepared to perform in harsh conditions, cellular communication devices and advanced software for tracking restoration progress, and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) technology that allows our operations center to quickly recognize and address outages and system damage.

JOEMC is proud to serve our members, and we will always work to improve our ability to provide safe, reliable, and affordable electric service for years to come.