I was 10 years old and living in Norfolk when Hazel hit town. I remember not being able to even leave the house for almost three days because of the rain and the wind. Finally, my mother allowed my brother and me to run to our detached garage to play. Or maybe she just wanted us out of the house.

I was 8 years old and living in Baltimore County on a wooded lot with many mature oak trees. I recall the power going out in the early evening and standing at the living room window watching the 50-75' tall oak trees bending in the wind. About 7:00 PM my father left the house in the midst of the storm to appear in traffic court, which was open that night. He returned safely, case dismissed and told a fantastic story of dodging fallen trees and riding on sidewalks to avoid flooded roads. I don't recall when the power came back on, but I'll always remember listening to the Lone Ranger on a battery powered radio, while the wind howled and rain pelted the house.

Thanks for your contributions. I was in 1st grade, living in northern New Jersey. I went to bed that night listening to the wind, then slept through the whole storm. When I woke up, I looked out my bedroom window and saw a huge tree, maybe an oak, that had fallen from our neighbor's yard into ours, it's top landing maybe 20 feet from my window. We walked around the neighborhood that morning and there were mature hardwoods down everywhere. I've read since that wind gusts topped 100 mph in Brooklyn, NY that night, far east of the storm's track. The power was out for many hours.

I was a mere lad when the great storm hit our farmhouse that second weekend of October in 1954. The farm was located on what is now known as Sawmill Road at the entrance to White Oak Valley, just south of the hamlet called Potosi and east of another one known as Hametown. It happened during the onset of my teenage years in southern York County, Pennsylvania, about seven miles north of the Mason-Dixon Line. The wrath of the hurricane's winds took out the old pear tree from which my mother used to can pears and make her delicious pear butter. My father took black and white photos with his Kodak Brownie Hawkeye camera of the downed tree with my siblings perched precariously ontop. Somewhere in and among the family photo albums, those photos still exisit. Needless to say, Hurricane Hazel made an indelible mark on my memory.

I was nine years old when hurrican hazzle blew threw Ridge, Maryland in southern Maryland. All the shingles blew off all the homes around. The road to Point Lookout was washed out and it was over two weeks before it could be used again. Hundreds of feet of shore line was washed away. The sand bar that protected the area was destroyed and never rebuilt itself. Barns were blow down. A neighbors cinder block garage, had the whole back wall blow out. My uncle Clarence at the end of Airedele Road was cut off for several days. The water was over the road and a small portion washed out. I thought my brother and I would never get all those shingles picked up.

Well, I was 8 years old living with my grandmother at the time. She lived right across from Brooklyn Park, on third street in Brooklyn, Md. I remember the address, 3545 Third Street and remember standing in the sun parlor looking out the windows. I can still see a man holding on to a street sign trying to get home, he lived at the end of the block and everytime he took a step trying to get to the next street sign or tree to hold on to his feet would lift out from under him. I remember that because I wanted to go out side and fly like he was. I loved superman back then and that is what the man reminded me of. I also seen trees bending and the flag poles bending in the wind, things blowing across the park from one side to the other. The rain would slam against the windows with force from the wind at times. I remember it raining really hard that day, like cats and dogs as the saying goes. The Street out in front of the house was flooded in the curb sides with water running wild down to Patasaco ave.The cars were shaking from the wind. I do remember we were all scared. My cousin, Lynn and my best friend Joe and his sisters Dee Dee and Nancy from up the street were there that day to. We were all looking out the windows asking my Grandmother all sorts of questions. We could see Patasaco bay I think it was called from the sun parlor windows. I remember seeing white caps in the water all the way from my grandmothers house and ask her what was wrong with the water , LOL. That day sticks in my mind as if it were yesterday for some reason. My grandfather was a fire fighter then and he wasn't home because of being on duty. Yep, I remember that being a fierce storm, It had left a lot of damage around from what I remember after going outside to play the next day. For some reason, of all the Hurriecanes in my life that one stands out in my memory like it was yesterday. None of the other Hurricnes I have ever been in have left any memories so it must have been a fierce storm or I just remember that one because of being so young and scared.

I was a young child in Rose, New York- a small town located 8 miles South of Lake Ontario, midway between Rochester and Syracuse when Hazel hit. Our family always remembers Hurricane Hazel because the force of the winds shattered an upstairs bedroom window and blew off shutters on our house. My parents carried us small children down to the basement to wait out the storm.

We lived in what was then a remote suburb of Philadlephia- my sister was an infant and I was 5. There was no electricity and my mother went next door to borrow some sterno to heat the baby's bottle. We were alone in the house. A huge tree fell and missed my mother by inches. As my mother was a severe and violent alcoholic throughout her life, I have often wondered what my life would have been like had she died that night. We had just moved into that house and I was just beginning to recognize that something was very wrong. It is perhaps a metaphor for the nature of the life we lived from that point onward.

I was five years old and living in the southern part of Syracuse. My parents, brother and I spent the night in the basement of our home. I remember hearing the Andirondick chairs on the front porch hit the house and front windows. I also remember walking to school and having to crawl over a downed tree. I am not sure how many days after the storm I had to return to school, but do remember there was rain for days after. The destruction in the neighborhood was quite extensive.

I it so bad

I would not stay there

What are you doing in that city

I was six years old when I watched Hurricane Hazel tear down the street we lived on in Richmond, Virginia. I remember trees bent over with their tips touching the ground. I kept opening the big double doors on our townhouse on South Pine Street to get a better look, much to my mother's horror. I saw one kid go flying down our street in his red wagon, propelled by the wind. What he was doing out in that storm I'll never know. What a stormy night THAT was! Gail Hutchins, Richmond, Va. native

I was eight. My dad was stationed at Patuxent River in flight training. We lived in a trailer park in a forest. I can still remember the fear that our house trailer would collapse or fly away in the wind. Trees were falling around and we had no power or phone. The eye of the storm came directly through and my dad and I walked around outside looking at cars and trailers that had been crushed by trees. There was debris everywhere. Then we ran back inside to wait out the rest of the storm.

We lived a row home in Govens on St Dunstance St. next to Chickapin Park. I was 7 yrs old and my brother was 3. When Hurricane Hazel came to vist us in Baltimore, the windows blew out and the curtins were blowing stright into the living room. My Mother was holding my Brother (Wes) in her arms and praying. Our street was a river running into the Park that was flooded to the street level but all I could think of was "Why would they name a storm after my Aunt Hazel?"

FR: I remember Hazel, too. I was a little kid in northern New Jersey. Went to sleep in the storm, and when I woke up there were trees down all around the house. Big ones. One of them fell from the neighbor's yard into ours, missing my bedroom by 10 or 20 feet. I thought it was magical. Everything outside had changed while I slept. Hazel's forward speed pushed hurricane-force winds farther inland than ever before - over 100 mph in New York City. In Baltimore, the coastal flooding was very much like we experienced in 2003 with Tropical Storm Isabel. Here's more on Hazel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Hazel The storm was much stronger than Hanna, but followed a similar course from the Bahamas to landfall and inland.

I was 4. We lived in Toronto, ON and I recall the horrendous winds, lightning and deadly flooding (incuding the basement in which we huddled as the house shook and groaned........most terrifying. I have loved storms and storm watching ever since. Tornadoes are just as terrifying, and thankfully, much shorter-lived. I have experienced 4 of those close-hand as well and have still not lost my fascination for severe weather phenomenon. My kids caught the bug too............

In 1954,when Hurricane Hazel arrived, I was 13 years old and living in Syracuse, NY. The winds blew down a large tree near the house. When I talked to my sister about this last year, I told her that the tree fell on our porch. She said that the tree knocked out the electricity. I'll never know for sure which is correct (maybe both things happened), but we both remember that our family left the house and went to stay with my grandmother. I have no recollection of this, but my sister said that my mother was very frightened, and when the winds came, she ran around yelling, "It's coming! It's coming!" I don't remember being scared. Maybe my mother was scared enough for all of us.

I was 5. We lived in Linstead across from the community beach on the Severn. Attitudes were a little different then, there was a "hurricane party" at a neighbor's house a few blocks away, also on the shore, for residents and their families. I remember people watching the river through the large picture window when a rowboat flew by the window. My parents decided we should leave, but on the way home my father decided to drive down the small hill entrance road to the community beach to see what was happening. It was nearly dark, and we suddenly found the water was halfway up the beach road (about a 10' rise, if I recall) so we had to back up the hill. I could not understand what was happening, now I know this was a storm surge. We were without power for about a week.

We also lived on the Patuxent River, across the river on the Solomon Island naval base (my dad worked at Patuxent Naval Air Station). I was seven years old. I remember my dad was flying in Alaska and my mother was pregnant. Neighbors boarded up our windows, and because we lived in a brick house, people in more vulnerable buildings stayed with us. I remember that the pier was destroyed. It was also my first experience with death. A boy about 5 years old was playing in a cave the following year, and because it was weakened by Hazel, it caved in and he died. I doubt if that death is included in the hurricane stats. The next year Hurricane Diane hit. I was beginning to think hurricanes came all the time, but actually they are relatively rare in this part of the country.

Living in Richmond, VA, I was almost 10 at the time. We had to leave school early, and one of the students commented that it was a "hurry-up" cane. The newspaper boy delivered papers in the blasting rain before the hurricane actually hit. It was a devastating storm, uprooting 2 large paradise trees and downing power lines in our backyard. I was doing the dishes at the time when the lights went out. Thank God, our home was spared, which is not the case with many homes, whose roofs and whole sides were taken out. Fish from the James River lined some of our streets.

I Was 10 when Hazel blew into Baltimore. Actually October 15, 1954 was my 10th birthday and contrary to the maps I have seen, the eye of Hazel went right over our house in western Baltimore. During my birthday dinner we went out and stood in the eye for a moment and watched the winds blow around us. All the maps I have seen lately have Hazel situated too far to the West

FR: Hazel was a rarity in that it was still blowing at hurricane force long after it made landfall near the North/South Carolina border. Maryland did in fact experience hurricane-force winds during the storm. Hard to say what you saw that day. The center of the storm did indeed pass through Maryland, but closer to Hagerstown than Baltimore, which is why all the maps you've seen look the way they do. Then again, the "center " of a hurricane is a point, while the eye can be much wider. Perhaps the skies really did clear for a time in Baltimore as the storm's center passed to our west, although that seems unlikely so far from landfall. Or maybe what you saw was simply a break in the clouds between rain bands. That can happen, too. If Hazel still had an "eye" at that point, and if you really were in it, you would not have seen the winds "blow around" you. Rather, they would have fallen to nearly calm for a time, before picking up again in the opposite direction.

I was 7yrs, old. My Dad was a vol. deputy sherriff. He'd been called into direct traffic at Flower Ave & Piney Branch Road because there was no power and all the lights were out. My Mom found that he'd left his police whistle at home and told me that I had to take it to him. I has one of those yellow rain slickers, by the time I'd walked to the corner with three blocks left to go, I was soaked through. I had to bend over to walk against the wind. When I got to my dad He was using a plastic toy whistle that he'd gotten from the 5 & 10 store. Irembeber being very proud that I'd donethat, walked the 3 blocks from our house to help my dad "make thinks safer for every body."

My mom said I was conceived that night in Baltimore in the backseat of a car cause they couldnt drive because of Hazel 9 mos later on July 16th the love child was born that was me.

I was 3 in 1954, but I do have Huricane Hazel memories. We lived on Wilson Point near Baltimore, where I enjoyed many hours playing under a tulip tree in the front yard. Bushes arched into the base of the tree forming a natural tunnel where I played house with cloth dolls. Days before the storm, we took a trip to Ocean City. In the afternoon, the weather turned bad. In the morning, local police informed us that we should evacuate immediately, so we had to pack up and secure the beach house as best we could. As a small child, the danger was never more frightening than when our car got stuck in the sand, and I was sure all was lost. We'd been stuck in the sand before, but never when a huricane was coming! We were sent to a high school on the other side of the causeway where we spent the night. Cots lined the hallways under rows of lockers. It was a child's paradise full of excitement shared with plenty of other displaced kids. My brothers had a ball running around making new friends while I had to stay with my mother, much against my will. The next day, we returned to our home on Wilson Point.. The tulip tree had fallen on our house, doing no significant damage, but my "playhouse" was destroyed.

Hurricane Hazel caused the death of at least 95 people. just too bad. but this is the job of mother nature and we cannot do anything about it

I was living in Richmond, VA with my family, on Broad Street approximately 4 houses from the Trinity Methodist Church. My dad and his uncle were out at work. At home were my mom, myself (I was 4 yrs. & 11 mos. old) and the wife of my dad's uncle and their son (3 years old). I remember both women were crying and praying. We went down to the basement area and it was very dark and scary. I remember hearing loud noises outside and a loud wind blowing. The next day we saw all the damage done. The steeple of the church was on the ground.

I was too young to remember this day,but my mother always recall us about this moment in our life when Hurricane Hazzel arrived, we run and stayed in the basement,And she said usally am always asking question but this very moment I was so afraid to utter a few word.She also says that the weather was bad.

I was 5 years old & living in Syracuse, NY. I remember my mother bringing me and my brothers and sisters to the basement. She said that there was a hurricane coming and we had to stay in the basement. There was very low light--maybe candles? I also remember concern that the kitchen window, which was quite large, would break.

I was 10 years old and living in Rockville MD when Hurricane Hazel passed through. Our new metal awnings over the living room window were blown off and I recall the pressure from the wind causing our attic stairs to loudly drop down from the ceiling. We had recently moved into our new home the year before and fortunately the awnings were the only casualty..

I was 7 when Hazel came to visit us in Syracuse. The event that I will always
remember is my older brother Rob standing on the porch by the door and jumping straight up and being carried by the wind to the driveway. He was having great fun until MOM caught him.

I was 15 Years old living in east Baltimore on a small street called Duncan st. near St. Wenceslaus Church. I was trying to be brave and walked in the middle of Ashland Avenue, barely being able to stay on my feet. That lasted for ten minutes before finally running for home and safety.

I was 7 years old. My twin brother, mother, and I were living temporarily in a tiny trailer while my father finished building our new home on Chain of Hills Road one block from Marley Creek (Patapsco River) in Marley Park (Glen Burnie). In the late afternoon, the wind sheared off half of a large oak tree on a bank above the trailer. The tree came down crushing the trailer in half. My brother and I were playing on the bench seat at one end and mom was cooking dinner at the other end. Miraculously none of were hurt. After we were freed, we spent the night in the basement. My father was on the road. The next morning boards with fish were in the yard.