Treasures In The Car: What Evacuees Grabbed Fleeing Their Homes

This week, more than 1 million people have evacuated their homes along the coast of North Carolina and South Carolina, leaving some searching for gas, others a place to land once they got out of danger.

But when faced with leaving your home, weighed down with the realization that perhaps it’s for the last time, what are the things you can’t bear to leave behind? For Amy Howard, of Ocracoke island, there were many treasures she couldn't leave behind, including her son.

“I’ve evacuated many times and stayed many times,” Howard said. She’s the ninth generation of her family to live on the barrier island, and initially was inclined to stay and ride the storm out. But when confronted the increasing unknowns of Hurricane Florence, the safety of her 14-year-old son became a major deciding factor.

Her husband and her father stayed behind while she and her son Lachlan boarded a ferry boat to the mainland, then on to Asheville.

“I felt like if I didn’t leave and something happens to him and I hadn’t left I would never forgive myself,” she told Patch in an email. “That being said, traveling hundreds of miles into uncertain weather and unfamiliar territory was a little nerve wracking too.”

One of the biggest worries for her as she moved inland was not knowing where flood zones were located in Asheville or Raleigh.

“But I do know where the high spots on Ocracoke are,” Howard said. “In all the uncertainty, known vs. unknown often wins, which I think is why many people chose to stay. They feel safer in environments they are familiar with.”

She threw clothes in the car, and her father sent with her his great grandfather's shipwreck log for safe keeping. She also grabbed something of her own: a hair barrette that she received as a birthday present when she turned 17 while in Germany. “Why I chose that instead of a 100 other things, I don’t really know, but it made me feel better knowing I had it with me,” she said.

She posted a photo of the hair clip on her Facebook page and asked her friends what they chose to take with them.

“I brought my children’s baby books,” wrote Debbie Leonard. “I also brought some other albums and photos but these were the first things I grabbed.”

“I laid awake thinking about what I would want most of all in a new house if the old one got washed away,” wrote Paula Schramel, posting a photo of a glass-topped table filled with shells, small pottery and a palm-sized animal figurine. “This is what I brought with me: A table full of small things I have collected over a lifetime.”

“I packed one box each out of the kid’s rooms of their precious things and a plastic tub of photo albums,” said Melinda Fodrie Sutton. “And a tiny ceramic angel that my dad use to say blessed our house growing up. I can say after this, I am uploading all my photos to a cloud as my winter project.”

When you get down to it, said Debbie Pannill, “stuff… is stuff.

“It can be replaced,” she said. “The memories, in your mind, are what matter. Do I have things I’d LIKE to save if needed? Of course. A side table my uncle made, a piece of stained glass my grandfather made, a pipe collection of my great grandfathers. and of course, what few photo albums i have. But in the end.... its stuff. The memories of that stuff, are in my heart. And that can’t be blown away by any storm.”

Related coverage:

• Hurricane Florence Eyewall Makes Landfall In NC
• Florence In Tweets: Reports On The Storm From North Carolina
• Hurricane Florence: How North Carolina Can Prepare
• NC Residents Advised To Review Homeowners Insurance Now
• Where To Find Gas In NC: Hurricane Florence Evacuation
• Hurricane Florence Prep: How To Keep Kids Safe And Calm
• NC State Will Not Play Football Game Saturday Due To Florence
• List: North Carolina Schools Closing Due To Hurricane Florence
• 'This Storm Is A Monster': NC Governor Orders Coastal Evacuation
• Hurricane Florence Threatens Pigs, Catastrophic Waste Spills
• Freeze Your Leftovers And Other Tips Ahead Of Hurricane Florence
• Duke Energy: Florence Will Leave Millions Without Power For Weeks

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Main photo courtesy of Amy Howard