Figure Eight Island

Figure 14. Figure Eight Island. (Photograph by the author. More about the photograph)

We now turn our attention to Figure Eight Island, a privately owned island about 25 miles north of Oak Island and Hurricane Floyd’s landfall. Although Figure Eight Island was not the site of hurricane landfall in 1999, it was in the sector of Hurricane Floyd that had the strongest winds.

Construction on Figure Eight is strong enough to withstand most hurricane winds and flooding. As a result, the houses are relatively expensive to build. The strength of construction in these houses as well as the way most of them are sited on the island both contributed to the relatively low damage they sustained from Hurricanes Dennis and Floyd. Note that Figure 14 shows many houses sited along the landward side of the island. That is our first clue that siting plays an important role in preventing damage from hurricanes.

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