Most hurricanes that come ashore on the US Atlantic or Gulf coasts are going to cause some grief somewhere in in North Carolina, and it is rare that the parameters of the threat can be known until the storm hits land -and even then it is a bit iffy. I remember going to bed about 11:00 pm after Hurricane Fran made landfall, assured it would track east through Rocky Mount, only to awake to devastation in the morning after the storm jogged west after making landfall.

I've learned the wisdom of preparing for the worst, even when the worst does not happen - because when the worst does happen, being unprepared is pure hell, and when the worst does not happen it simply means we are still prepared.