From the editor: During hurricane season, the StarNews will be here to keep you informed

Growing up just outside of Richmond, Virginia, hurricanes weren’t something we had to deal with.

My first real brush with one came in September 1996 when Hurricane Fran came inland and swept across the western portion of Virginia. I was working in Martinsville, Virginia, at the time, and I can still remember the howling winds and torrential rainfall.

About two years later, while working on Hilton Head Island, Hurricane Bonnie came along. I was no better prepared and can even remember being scared when my editor assigned me to drive about 30 miles in the storm for a story.

Little did I know at the time that neither of those storms would be the worst I’d experience. In 1999, just a few short months after I started at the StarNews, we had to deal with Hurricane Dennis. That seemed pretty bad, but then Hurricane Floyd hit shortly after.

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I spent the first night reporting from a shelter at West Brunswick High School. This was before cell phones, so I was using a pay phone. At first light the next morning, I called the office and learned that the roof had blown off what was then the Brunswick Community Hospital. I headed that way.

But then I couldn’t get back to the shelter. Using a paper map, I found my way to the Brunswick County Government Center. I spent a night there, sleeping on the lobby floor because flooding had all routes to Wilmington blocked.

We finally learned that a route taking you through Columbus County was clear enough. I jumped in my car. About 90 minutes later, I made it back to downtown Wilmington.

All the while, I was providing updates to my editors on what was happening. And the StarNews never missed a day of publication.

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A lot has changed since then. At StarNewsOnline.com, we’re now able to give you up-to-the-minute information about weather conditions, flooding and structural damage. During Hurricane Florence in 2018, for instance, reporters and editors huddled around two laptops with a small lantern to update our website as buckets of water poured into the former StarNews building.

Florence is now the worst hurricane I’ve experienced. One thing it taught me, though, is that we’re resilient and that the StarNews staff will always go above and beyond to keep you informed.

With hurricane season getting underway June 1, please take the time to prepare a hurricane kit and make other arrangements so you’re ready should a storm take aim at the Cape Fear region this year.

Sherry Jones is the StarNews executive editor. You can reach her at sjones1@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: During hurricane season, the StarNews will be here to keep you informed