IU alumni experience hurricane's rains 240 miles from coast

RALEIGH, N.C. -- IU alumni are no strangers to hurricanes, even those who were born and raised in Kokomo, Ind.\nGraduates Chris Carmichael, Hunter Gray and Shawn Sowers, now residents of Raleigh, N.C., sat through the winds of Hurricane Isabel on their front porch Thursday, enjoying the warm breezes.\n"It really wasn't a bad storm," Sowers said, noting Raleigh's central location on North Carolina's mainland. "It was kind of like your spring in Indiana. Kind of warm."\nRaleigh is about 240 miles from Cape Hatteras, N.C. -- one of the hardest hit areas from the hurricane.\nGray said they stocked up on bottled water and filled extra pitchers with tap water for emergency reserves. They stopped at the gas station to buy candles in case power was lost, but unlike those just a few blocks away, their home maintained electricity.\n"Once it got dark, people came over here to hang out," Gray said. "We wanted to broadcast the storm from our porch via Webcam because all our family and friends were wondering how the weather was here. They really had no idea, so we thought it would be a good idea to just show them."\nCarmichael added that the guys wanted to imitate hurricane broadcasters -- reporting live from the depths of the storm.\n"We watched The Weather Channel and wanted to mock the reporters on the Outer Banks," he said. "We thought about throwing water at the (person) reporting to make it look more real. Really, it just seemed like any other crappy day."\nCarmichael said that Raleigh residents were barely touched by the hurricane.\n"We were prepared for this incredible, awe-inspiring event; yet, we were hardly even inconvenienced at all, aside from all our friends, who had lost their power, trampling through our house," he said. "I suppose we were lucky, really."\nSowers said those along the East Coast are always prepared for the worst.\n"I think the whole world was freaked out about it except for the people of North Carolina," Sowers said. "This is like snow in Indiana, you know, where it's almost like an everyday thing."\n-- Contact staff writer Jackie Corgan at jcorgan@indiana.edu.