Documentary chronicles devastating nor’easter of 1962
A focus on Nags Head, with eyewitness accounts from the Ash Wednesday storm
The “Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 in Nags Head” documentary is, by design, a cautionary tale.
But it’s also filled with stories of bravery, resilience and hope.
The 30-minute film focuses on the March 6 through 9 nor’easter that blindsided weather forecasters and locals. The film, together with a public panel discussion, can be viewed on several websites. It was produced by the Town of Nags Head and the Outer Banks History Center, and funded by a grant from the government channel CurrentTV.
A classic perfect storm — two cold fronts meeting a powerful upper-level low-pressure system with the moon in close proximity to the Earth, at the time of the unusually high spring tides — it destroyed or damaged dozens of buildings and homes on the barrier islands, including many in Nags Head, the most developed and populated area of the Outer Banks.
The storm was both strong and enormous, slamming most of the East Coast and the Eastern Shore and reaching the Appalachians, with devastating winds, waves, high tides, rain, snow, property damage and dozens dead, including people lost at sea on fishing trawlers and a tanker.
“We wanted to create a history lesson with a message,” said Roberta Thuman, the town’s public information officer. “That it could happen again.”
“I hope it’s an emergency wake-up call,” added Tammy M. Woodward, director of the history center in Manteo.
As the documentary shows, the ocean breached the dunes, causing massive flooding from the Beach Road to the U.S. 158 Bypass. Many people had to be rescued by emergency workers and residents on boats. Grainy images capture 6-foot-tall sand drifts on the Beach Road.
Witnesses talk about septic tanks being compromised, causing shortages of fresh water, and several mention that it was “months” before things returned to “normal.”
The U.S. Weather Bureau called the system the “Great Atlantic Coastal Storm” and it was stubborn, raging through five hightide cycles.
But Aycock Brown, the legendary Outer Banks photographer and public relations man — noting that it reached its peak on March 7 — christened the weather event the more poetic “Ash Wednesday Storm.”
And that’s how it’s known 61 years later.
The mini-documentary, directed and edited by Raymond Wallace of Kill Devil Hills-based Rayolight Productions, had its premiere in September at Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head. About 300 people, including several former and current town commissioners and mayors, as well as Dare County officials, attended the free showing.
The screening, hosted by current mayor Ben Cahoon, was followed by a panel discussion and question-and-answer session, which included town commissioner Renée Cahoon; Erik Heden, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service; and local residents Buster Nunemaker and Juanita Wescott, who lived through the storm. Several audience members also shared personal stories.
In the documentary, Heden, who’s based in Newport, North Carolina, offers sobering information, stressing that even a storm 200 miles off the coast like the Ash Wednesday system can cause extensive damage and loss of life.
Nunemaker and Wescott, who both grew up in Nags Head, were middle-school students when the storm struck. Their recollections figure prominently in the documentary, which uses still photography, mostly by Aycock Brown; recently discovered aerial video footage; archival interviews; and narration by local actor Kelsey Thompson to tell the harrowing story.
In one telling passage, Wescott, whose family lost their house in the storm, speaking directly into the camera and visibly shaken, says, “From 6 o’clock in the morning ’til 3 in the afternoon, with a lot of hours of praying that God will spare your very life.”
Nunemaker recounts standing on the toilet to stay out of the 2-feet-deep water at his family’s home.
In a light-hearted moment, he and Wescott recall the disappointment of not going to school, calling it the “social network” of the era.
In a later phone interview, Nunemaker said, “There was rain, sleet, snow, howling winds, lightning and thunder, it was scary for a 12-year-old boy.”
He echoed Thuman’s and Woodward’s thoughts about the documentary, saying, “We need people to know the loss of property and life would be much greater now.”
Among the well-known voices in the film are the late Walter Gray, founder of Gray’s Department
Store, and the late George Crocker, known for his businesses A Restaurant by George and the Galleon Esplanade, both in Nags Head. Wayne Gray, a longtime Nags Head resident and former town commissioner, also contributes firsthand accounts of the storm’s effects.
Wallace, the filmmaker, spent about five months working on the documentary. The work, he says, was eye-opening: “It gave me a more basic perception of the town (Nags Head) and its future.”
And, he says, “I hope it reminds people of the importance of storm preparation.”
TO WATCH
“The Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 in Nags Head” documentary and panel discussion can be viewed on: Current TV, Channel 191 Youtube.com/ currenttvobx
Currenttv.org (Video on Demand section)
The documentary, without the panel discussion, is available at:
Nagsheadnc.gov Youtube.com/town of nags head