Hurricane Emily was the strongest storm of the 1993 Atlantic hurricane season, and caused record flooding in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The fifth named storm of the season, Emily became a tropical storm on August 25, after becoming nearly stationary southeast of Bermuda. On August 31, the hurricane reached peak winds of 115 mph (185 km/h) on its approach to North Carolina. Part of the eye passed over Hatteras Island in the Outer Banks, but its absolute center remained 23 mi (37 km) offshore. Emily's strong winds coincided with high tides during a full moon, causing severe flooding along the Pamlico Sound. The villages of Avon and Hatteras were inundated, and in Buxton, the floods left behind water marks as high as 10.54 ft (3.21 m). The storm wrecked 553 homes, leaving a quarter of the Cape Hatteras population homeless. Off the coasts of North Carolina and Virginia, three swimmers drowned. (Full article...)