Hurricane Hazel Personal Accounts

Shelia Hobbs
When Hurricane Hazel struck my small community of Franklin, Virginia I was six years old. My older brother and I lived with my grandmother in a modest home which did not have electricity. It was one of the most terrifying experiences that I remember as a child. I had never seen wind blow off roofs of buildings and homes. When the wind blew away our porch and part of our roof my grandmother, who weighed only 110 pounds, tied my brother and I to her and walked a block to a family members house. My feet were mostly off the ground and my grandmother later said that it was probably the weight of my brother and that I kept her from being blown away. Although I have experienced other hurricanes, none have been as frighten to me as Hazel. Many homes in Franklin were totally wiped away but I guess because we were a small community we didn't make the news. But I wanted to share my memories of a storm that changed my community of Franklin, Virginia - the peanut capital of the world.

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