69°
forecast

Back in the Day

Drawing from the Pilot’s expansive archive, Virginian-Pilot news researchers Maureen P. Watts and Jakon Hays look back at our local history. We'll post old photos, stories, advertisements, historical front pages and popular columns unearthed from yesterday’s papers; giving readers a glimpse of this region we call Hampton Roads. Feel free to leave comments or remembrances.

Follow Back in the Day's Twitter account: @musty_clips

All images are property of The Virginian-Pilot. Use without permission is prohibited.

Our History with Hurricanes - Photos

With hurricane Earl churning away in the Atlantic, we decided to pull out our old hurricane photo files and see what sort of photo coverage the newspaper supplied readers with over the years.

As you can see below, we have a pretty substantial collection of photos and we decided to upload a few that we thought were a bit unique. We decided against uploading photos from every storm that impacted our region (there simply were too many).

Text below the photos in italics is taken directly from the back of the photo.

Some of the photos have no information attached.

Other text below the photo is information that we are supplying to identify the storm or location.

We hope you enjoy these shots from the past…and don’t forget to buy batteries for your flashlights!

 


 

Aug. 23 1933 – Hurricane hits Virginia Beach

Family fleeing home after hurricane of September 1933 -  Photo courtesy of Norfolk Public Library

 

Ocean View Park after the storm - 1933


Hurricane Barbara - 1953

“Official Photograph U.S. Navy” – BB-63 (USS Missouri) bow hitting wave during hurricane.


 

Hurricane Ione

Read more about the storm here

A Pilot photographer leaves the Brambleton Ave. newspaper building in Norfolk to cover the storm.

 

 


The Virginia Beach oceanfront - Hurricane Daisy - August 1958

Hurricane Daisy - August 1958

 

 


Coming up on the 50th anniversary of hurricane Donna which struck our region on September 12 1960.

Children at the Ocean View school shelter during hurricane Donna - 1960.

A Virginia Beach family seeks shelter at the "Dome" convention center in Virginia Beach - 1960.

Hurricane Donna 1960.

 

 

 

 


Hurricane Cleo

Hurricane Cleo - 8/31/64


Virginia Beach Oceanfront. 1985 - Hurricane Gloria

9/26/1985 – ODU students moved from the dorms to the field house to wait out Gloria.


Harrison’s Pier in Ocean view. Approx. 200 feet of the pier was washed away by the storm. 8/18/86

Vacationers walk along sandbridge beach while the water reaches all the way up to the bulkhead of a beach cottage – 8/19/86


Pam Stratton surveys the damage in front of her blown out mobile home in Buxton on Wednesday. Sept. 1993

Bernie Midgett, an employee and Scott Boatyard in Buxton, on Hatteras island, with a boat wrecked by the hurricane. Sept. 1993

 

COMMENTS ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here; comments do not reflect the views of The Virginian-Pilot or its websites. Users must follow agreed-upon rules: Be civil, be clean, be on topic; don't attack private individuals, other users or classes of people. Read the full rules here.
- Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the report violation link below it.

Ash Wednesday Storm of 62

Not sure if that was a hurricane or not, but I know it did some real damage.

Ash Wednesday Storm of 62

Not sure if that was a hurricane or not, but I know it did some real damage.

Isabel

What about some Isabel pics since it was so close to home?

Was hoping

Was hoping for some big wave pics. I'm so excited about Earl. Surfs up........

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
Please note: Threaded comments work best if you view the oldest comments first.

Toolbox