Hurricane Bertha was the very first hurricane that I filmed. It was close to mid-July in 1996 and I had just begun my business, Hurricane Maps Enterprises. In fact, my very first set of paper tracking maps, huge poster sized maps, had just been published in and around the Wilmington, NC area. Local News/Talk station WAAV was promoting them on-air as Bertha approached the NC/SC coast. During the daylight hours of July 12, Bertha strengthened from a weak category one hurricane to a strong and intensifying category two hurricane. The eye passed just to my east. I was living in a brick house in Leland, NC- just across the river to the west of Wilmington. The video is not that dramatic or coordinated- but none-the-less, this is what started it all for me. Little did I know that just a few weeks later, powerful hurricane Fran would pass right over me.