[forces of nature] english - español - flash version - main page
[heading] [images]



[ h u r r i c a n e s   :   c a s e   s t u d i e s ]


Click on the links to read about hurricanes which have occurred throughout history.

Jamestown, Virginia (USA) (1667, August 27)
This was the first record of a hurricane in the soon-to-be United States. The “dreadful Hurry Cane,” as was reported by the Strange News From Virginia pamphlet, produced “such violence that it overturned many houses, burying in the ruins much goods and many people, beating to the ground such as were any ways employed in the fields, blowing many cattle that were near the sea or rivers, into them, whereby unknown numbers have perished, to the great affliction of all people…The sea swelled twelve foot above the normal eight drowning the whole country before it, with many of the inhabitants, their cattle and goods.”

Great Britain (1703, November 26)
A fierce storm hit the Welsh coast, with 120-mile-an-hour winds driving tides up to severely damage the city of Bristol. The storm caused extensive damage all over the island, felling thousands of trees, stripping away roof tiles, collapsing chimneys, and killing about 100 people. The supposedly indestructible Eddystone Light off the Plymouth coast collapsed beneath the pounding waves. It fell into the sea with its overconfident architect-builder still inside. The Royal Navy lost fifteen warships, one admiral, and 1,500 seamen.

Florida, USA (1715, July 29-31)
General Juan Esteban Ubilla led an eleven-ship Spanish armada from Havana to Spain on July 24. The fleet included ships carrying gold, silver, porcelain, and silk, worth more than 14 million pesos. As they passed Florida on July 30, it became hot and humid. The skies grew dark and northerly winds began to blow. Waves crashed over the bows of the ships, and Ubilla tried to move to open sea. By July 31, however, the armada was separated and each ship destroyed. The general himself and 225 other men on his ship drowned. Only one ship out of the original eleven survived. A total of 1,000 men were lost, as well as the treasure. Six months later, attempts were made to recover the valuables. Sergeant-major Don Juan de Hayo Solorzano was in charge, and recovered about 4 million pesos in gold. The rest remains lost.

Bay of Bengal, India (1737)
Over 300,000 were drowned and 20,000 ships smashed. Four islands were buried beneath forty-foot-high waves, which washed out thousands of coastal huts and dwellings. This typhoon was the second most deadly in history.

Dominica, Caribbean (1772, August 31)
A four-day-long hurricane destroyed almost all the ships near the area, as well as a 2.5 million pound muscovado sugar crop.

Caribbean Islands (1780, October 10-12)
The “Great Hurricane of 1780” was the most deadly Atlantic hurricane in recorded history, killing 20,000 to 30,000 people. The storm hit Barbados first, taking more than 4,000 lives, and then took 6,000 more from Saint Lucia. Martinique lost 9,000 residents. The storm also hit Dominica, Guadeloupe, Saint Eustatius, and Puerto Rico, where 9,000 more perished.

Coromandel Coast, India (1787)
A southeastern India cyclone caused storm waves to wash over low-lying areas from Nagappatinam to Kavali. 10,000 people drowned and 100,000 more cattle were lost, as the waves sometimes swept as much as 20 miles inland.

Ireland (1839, January 6)
A two-day storm destroyed hundreds of houses in Athlone, Limerick, and Galway in addition to causing hundreds of shipwrecks in the Irish Sea. Fires raged across the land, spread by gale winds. The storm was the largest to hit the British Isles in memory, and became known as the legendary “Big Wind.”

Louisiana coast (USA) (1856, August 10)
A tidal wave destroyed every building on Last Island, killing almost everyone on the island.

Calcutta, India (1864, October 5)
A cyclone created high waves, which washed up the Hooghly River basin and destroyed much of the city of Calcutta. In addition, some 50,000 to 70,000 people were drowned.

Bengal, India (1876)
A tropical cyclone struck the coast of Bengal in present day Bangladesh near the Meghna River mouth. Waters rose twenty feet above normal, swallowing the islands near Chittagong. About 100,000 died immediately, and another 100,000 died from starvation due to crop loss.

Haiphong, Vietnam (1881)
The city was flooded and destroyed by tidal waves that killed 300,000.

Japan (1882)
Navy ships reported a typhoon that caused waves nine stories high.

Bombay, India (1882, June 6)
An Arabian Sea cyclone created high waves at Bombay harbor. 100,000 people in and around the city perished.

Indianola, Texas, USA (1886, October 12)
A hurricane/sea surge combination took 250 lives, damaging the little town so terribly that the ruined buildings were never rebuilt.

Charleston, South Carolina, USA (1893, August 27)
A mid-Atlantic hurricane moved between Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston. Sea waves plunged over all the coastal islands, killing 1,000 to 2,000 people.

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA (1893, October 1)
A hurricane formed in the Gulf of Mexico moved over land near Port Eads on the Mississippi Delta, passing over New Orleans and much of the state of Mississippi. High storm waves took 1,800 lives, making it the third worst hurricane disaster in American history.

Puerto Rico (1899)
All the Caribbean islands were ravaged by the San Ciriaco hurricane, witnessing high winds and storm waves. Puerto Rico saw the most damage, with 3,000 dead.

Galveston, Texas, USA (1900, September 8)
Galveston, America’s fastest growing port in 1900, was built on a one-mile-wide sandbar 9 feet above sea level. However, geographers stated that the gradual, sloping ocean floor off the coast of Galveston, Texas made the popular resort safe from hurricanes. That was why many tourists were still out at the beach on September 7, 1900, despite storm warnings. Soon, however, the barometer fell. Waves became four feet higher than normal and the following morning, winds rose to 50 miles per hour and water began pouring into the streets. By noon, the water was five-feet deep in the streets, rain was pouring down, and the wind was getting stronger. Tourists found it too late to leave the island, for the bridge to the mainland was already submerged. By afternoon, winds had reached hurricane speed, the city’s electricity died, and the only bridge to the mainland collapsed, trapping all remaining citizens on the sandbar. By 5 p.m., the storm was peeling roofs away from houses, knocking down telephone poles, and striking people with airborne debris. Others were drowned by water that rose four more feet, while many houses were floated up from their foundations. The wind now blew at more than 120 miles per hour. I.M. Cline, director of the weather bureau, reported the barometer at 29 inches at 6:30 p.m. Water had risen neck deep in some downtown streets while winds tore shingles and timbers from roofs. At 7:30 p.m., water rose 4 feet in a mere 4 minutes and another 5 feet within the hour, 20 feet above normal. Debris piled 15 feet high many blocks inland from the shore. By 8 p.m., many houses, torn from their foundations, drifted on the waves and knocked down other buildings. Hundreds of people drifted on top of timber rafts while others were killed by flying debris. At midnight the winds abated, the rains stopped, and water began draining away to normal levels. Dawn, however, revealed “one of the most horrible sights ever a civilized people looked upon.” The entire city was submerged - only the tops of the tallest buildings remained above the water. Cline later wrote, “About three thousand homes, nearly half the residence portion of Galveston, had been completely swept out of existence and probably more than 6,000 people had passed from life to death during that dreadful night. Where 20,000 people lived on the 8th, not a house remained on the 9th, and who occupied the houses may, in many instances, never be known.” Recovery took several months, and residents were encouraged to move to the mainland. However, the citizens ignored this advice and rebuilt the city on the same spot. This time, the streets, sidewalks, and the entire city were raised 17 feet above high-tide level. A seawall was also built across the harbor mouth.

Galveston, Texas, USA (1915, August 5-25)
On August 10, a huge low-pressure storm originating off the Cape Verde Islands crossed the Atlantic and entered the Caribbean Sea between the islands of Guadeloupe and Dominica. The storm then passed westward with winds measuring over 120 miles per hour. Galveston received a twenty-four-hour warning, the same city that was destroyed by hurricane fifteen years previously. The city, however, felt it was ready, having raised and filled an area forty blocks long and twenty-two blocks wide. A $9 million seawall, 16 feet wide and 4 feet higher than any recorded tide, had been built along an 8-mile stretch to protect the harbor. However, even with plenty of prior warning and defensive measures, the hurricane pushed tides 12 feet above normal. 5 feet of water poured into the business area of town, damaged 90% of buildings, caused $50 million in property loss, and drowned 275 citizens. The seawall, however, did much to protect the city from the brunt of the storm and helped Galveston survive.

Corpus Christi, Texas (1915, September 14-17)
The Gulf Coast region was hit by a major hurricane that pushed tides 16 feet above normal at Corpus Christi. The storm affected all the states from Florida to Texas, drowning between 250 and 280 people and taking another 80 at sea.

Miami, Florida, USA (1926, September 18)
A nine-foot-high ocean surge, caused by a hurricane with 96-mile-per-hour winds, flooded streets and buildings. The storm left 250 dead, left 40,000 without homes, and caused $150 million worth of damage.

Florida, USA (1928, September 16-17)
At noon on September 16, Florida received word of a hurricane moving north through the Caribbean region. Many people in the Lake Okeechobee area gathered on large barges in the lake while 500 others sought shelter in nearby hotels. The storm hit at 6 p.m. with 160 mph winds, causing the lake waters to spill out into the low-lying fields. Dikes collapsed, nearby houses were swept away by severe flooding, and hundreds drowned in the onrushing waters. So many people died that rescue workers were forced to simply tow long lines of bodies along behind their boats. At least 700 victims were buried in a mass grave at West Palm Beach. Officials estimate as many as 2,500 people may have died around the lake, making it the second worst hurricane in U.S. history. Damage throughout the region was estimated at between $25 million and $150 million. After the storm, the government helped begin a $5 million flood-control program for the Lake Okeechobee-Everglades region, building an 85-mile-long levee, 34-38 feet high, along the southern lake shore.

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (1930, September 3)
A hurricane took 2,000 lives, injured 6,000, and caused more than $40 million damage on the island.

Santa Cruz del Sur, Cuba (1932, November 9)
A storm wave, caused by a hurricane, swept over the city and killed about 2,500 people.

Japan (1934, September 21)
More than 4,000 were killed when a typhoon struck the island of Honshu.

Florida Keys (1935, September 2)
The Labor Day hurricane was first given notice when it reached Turks Island in the southern Bahamas chain. Warnings were posted in Florida from Fort Pierce to Fort Myers on August 21. The full force of the storm, however, hit the Florida Keys. The Keys, several small islands south of the Florida peninsula, were linked to the mainland by the Florida East Coast Railway, which had tracks running across a stone causeway 30 feet above the water. On Labor Day, the last train started off for Key West with vacationers returning home from the mainland. As the train began to cross the Long Key viaduct over open water, a 20-foot wave swept over the path, overturned the ten-car train, and swept away both tracks and the bridge. 150 people died from the train accident itself. Other destruction was caused by 200 mph winds, and the islands were cut off from the mainland for three days. Relief and supply boats as well as rescue workers finally reached the isolated islands. Damage was totaled at nearly $6 million. The original construction of the causeway had dammed natural sea channels through the islands into Florida Bay, piling waters up around piers and created strong undertows that eroded shore supports for the causeway. It forced unusually high waves onto the southern key coast as well. A new roadway has since been constructed, a series of bridges instead of a solid causeway to remedy the problem.

Haiti (1935, October 25)
Floods produced by a hurricane killed over 2,000 people, centered around the towns of Jérémie and Jacmel.

New England, USA (1938, September 21)
This hurricane hit the urban areas of New York and New England without warning, beginning as a low-pressure region off the African coast and drifting slowly west across the Atlantic Ocean. The captain of Brazilian freighter Alegrete radioed at 9:30 p.m. on September 16 that he was caught in the middle of a terrible storm 350 miles northeast of Puerto Rico. A Weather Bureau station in Jacksonville, Florida, sent warnings to the Florida region for September 18-19. On Monday night, the hurricane swept away from the Florida coast and began traveling north. The Weather Bureau’s central office in Washington did not, however, recognize that the storm was a hurricane. Still moving north, the storm winds increased to about 200 miles per hour and caused barometers to measure record lows. The hurricane also occurred at the same time as above-normal tides caused by lunar perigee, so that exceptionally severe storm surges were created at high tide. At 1 p.m. on September 21, the Weather Bureau finally issued a storm warning for the endangered area, but it was too late. Ninety minutes later, 40-foot-high waves crashed into the region, sweeping away all loose items. Streets flooded beneath 2 feet of water, while many coastal summer homes were destroyed. After the eye passed through Long Island, another storm wave swept over the island and destroyed even more property. More than 150 houses vanished at Westhampton, while the Montauk Highway and Long Island Railway were both ruined in several places. Waters completely covered an area near Napeague Beach, effectively cutting the island in two for a few hours. The storm went on to hit southeastern New England. Waves crashed up Narrangansett Bay at Providence, Rhode Island, ruining boats and docks. Waters rose to 13 feet in downtown, almost to the steps of City Hall. Cars and trucks were abandoned and then lost underneath rising water. The storm continued north to Massachusetts at about 55 miles per hour with 183 mph winds. Beach-front property on Cape Cod and around Boston were lost, while winds did additional damage to homes, businesses, and farms. 16,000 shade trees in Springfield were destroyed in addition to New England’s apple crop, numbering some 4 million bushels of fruit. River communities were also flooded before the storm finally moved away to Quebec. The hurricane took a total of some 700 lives, injured 2,000, made 63,000 people homeless, and caused more than $330 million in property damage. The Weather Bureau faced incriminations and blame after the storm, and was reorganized and equipped with new long-range prediction and tracking techniques. The one good thing that came out of the disaster was that it laid the groundwork for today’s hurricane warning system.

California (1939, September)
The occurrence of hurricanes on the California coast are extremely rare - they hardly form in the Pacific west of Mexico, and few survive north of Baja California. However, this storm took 45 lives and caused about $2 million property damage around Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.

Bengal coast, India (1942, October 16)
A cyclone takes 35,000 lives south of Calcutta. The storm, originating in the Bay of Bengal, happened during wartime censorship, so some reports claim only 11,000 died.

Jamaica (1951, August 17)
125 mph winds hit Kingston harbor, beaching 6 ships, taking 150 lives, and ruining about 20,000 buildings. Losses were estimated at $56 million, and the storm continued northwest to hit Mexico, where another 50 perished.

Japan (1953, September 25-27)
A typhoon destroyed roughly 1/3 of industrial center Nagoya, killing 100 and leaving almost one million without homes. 150 others were presumed lost at sea, while 38 railroad lines were ruined. Another typhoon hit Vietnam at about the same time, taking another 1,000 lives.

Eastern USA (1954)
Hurricane Carol splintered piers, jetties, and houses from Virginia to New England with 160-mile-an-hour winds. The damage cost over $500 million.

Long Island, New York, USA (1954)
Hurricane Hazel ruined the entire business section of Garden City. 1,000 perish.

Japan (1954, September 26)
A typhoon hit Hakodate Bay near Hokkaido Island, killing more than 1,600 residents. Most of the people lost died after their ships capsized.

Atlantic coast, USA (Carol) (1954, August 25-31)
Hurricane Carol was the first of three hurricanes that would hit the eastern United States that year. It originated over the Bahamas and traveled northward until hitting Long Island. Once it reached land, the hurricane moved with abnormally high speed, producing record rain and winds measuring up to 135 mph. Carol was responsible for 60 deaths, 1,000 injuries, and over $461 million in damage - the highest hurricane damage losses at the time.

New England, USA (Edna) (1954, September 2-14)
Edna, the second major hurricane of 1954, poured down 5 inches of rain in only fourteen hours on New York City before moving north to hit Massachusetts, Maine, and Nova Scotia. 22 people died and there was $50 million in property losses.

Atlantic states, USA (Hazel) (1954, October 5-18)
The third major hurricane of that year was Hurricane Hazel, a severe storm that struck an area from the southeastern Caribbean to Ontario, Canada. Between 600 and 1,200 people were killed, while property damage was estimated at $350 million. The storm began near Grenada on October 3 and moved north, turning into a full hurricane with 115-mile-per-hour winds by October 12. Haiti saw extreme flooding and landslide destruction that left several towns damaged and between 400 and 1,000 people dead. 12 inches of rain fell on Puerto Rico before the storm moved into the Atlantic through the Windward Passage, intensifying as it traveled. On October 14, the storm hit the Bahamas and then moved west to hit Cape Fear, North Carolina with 150 mph winds. Over 1,000 houses were destroyed along the coast. Only 3 of Garden City, South Carolina’s 275 buildings were left undamaged. At Carolina Beach, North Carolina, 1,365 buildings were damaged and 475 completely destroyed. 100,000 cubit feet of sand were deposited in the streets. Damage along the coast totaled more than $60 million, but only 19 perished thanks to well-established warning systems. Hazel, instead of losing power, intensified and continued to move over the Mid-Atlantic states toward Toronto. Record wind speeds were measured as it cut across New York, leaving 95 dead and $252 million property damage in the U.S. Hurricane Hazel hit Toronto at 11 p.m. on October 15, releasing 7 inches of rain in a single day and causing severe floods. Humber River turned into a violent river. Two weeks after it first began, Hazel finally exhausted its energy over Hudson Bay. Another 78 people were dead and more than $100 million property damage caused in Canada.

New England, USA (Diane) (1955, August 17-19)
Hurricane Diane caused extensive flood damage caused by heavy rains, so much so that it became the first billion-dollar hurricane. The storm came right after Hurricane Connie, which had already overflowed New England’s river systems and saturated the water table. Diane’s rains came so quickly and heavily that rivers rose faster than warnings could be given. At Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, Brodhead Creek rose 30 inches in fifteen minutes and drowned 50 people. In parts of New England, rivers flowed three to five times above normal. 12 feet of water flooded the town of Winsted, Connecticut. Coffins at Woonsocket, Rhode Island, floated out from the graveyards. A chemical plant in Putnam, Connecticut, leaked magnesium into the river, causing flaming waters to rush through the city. The hurricane hit the area at the height of the tourist season, trapping thousands of people in the mountains and resorts. 190 people drowned, and damages were estimated between $1.6 billion and $1.8 billion. Diane was the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history to date.

Louisiana, USA (Audrey) (1957, June 26)
This hurricane started in the Bay of Campeche and moved north across the Gulf of Mexico straight for Lousiana. Advance warning was provided for Gulf Coast residents, but the death toll was officially noted as 390. The reason why so many people died was bad communications between disaster agencies and the public. The Weather Service told “all persons living in low or exposed places to move to higher ground,” and gave the estimated arrival time of the storm center. What many people did not realize, however, was that the storm was already half over by the time the storm center arrived. In addition, the definition of “low and exposed” was unclear. The hurricane also caused storm surges that flooded coastal swamps and flat lands. Waves washed over sand dunes, rushed through towns, and flooded the areas many miles inland.

Japan (Vera) (1959, September 26-27)
Typhoon Vera was the worst in Japanese history, killing 4,464 residents of Honshu Island and injuring an additional 40,000. 40,000 homes were also destroyed, making 1.5 million people homeless. The regional railway system was cut in 827 different places. In addition, another typhoon occurred ten days earlier, killing 2,000 Japanese and Korean citizens.

Western Mexico (1959, October 27)
This rare West Coast hurricane took more than 2,000 lives.

Texas, USA (Carla) (1961, September 3-15)
Hurricane Carla started as a small storm in the Gulf of Mexico, but gained power and headed for the Texas coast. As winds reached 175 miles per hour, responsible officials drove through towns and streets warning, “Get out or die!” Residents took the advice and so began on of the largest mass exoduses in United States history. More than half a million people began to move inland, away from the storm’s danger. It was a lucky thing they did, because Hurricane Carla had a diameter almost two-thirds the width of the Gulf of Mexico, producing 15-feet-above-normal waves along the shore. 6 people died and property losses totaled over $408 million.

East Pakistan (1963, May 28-29)
A cyclone in the Bay of Bengal took an estimated 22,000 lives.

Caribbean (Flora) (1963, October 2-7)
Hurricane Flora may have been the second most deadly Atlantic hurricane in history. It was the worst to hit Cuba, Haiti, and several other Caribbean islands since Spain had control of the area. The storm began south of Trinidad and Tobago, moving northeast to hit southwestern Haiti with rain and 100 mph winds. Damage was caused by flash flooding and landslides, which destroyed entire towns and large crop fields worth $180 million. Over 3,500 people died and another 1,500 reported missing. The Dominican Republic suffered 400 deaths and $60 million damage. Flora then hit Cuba on October 4 and criss-crossed the island for the next 100 hours, trapped in by nearby high-pressure zones. 90 inches of rain fell in some areas, destroying as much as 50% of the sugar and tobacco harvest. 1,750 Cubans perished, out of the 7,190 lives that Flora took.

Taiwan (Gloria) (1964, September 11-12)
Typhoon Gloria hit Taiwan and killed 330 people, despite the fact that the government’s weather service told people there was no danger. The country suffered $17.5 million damage.

East Pakistan (1965, May 11-12 and June 1-2)
Two different cyclones killed 35,000 to 40,000 people on the low-lying Ganges River mouth area.

Florida and Louisiana, USA (Betsy) (1965, August 27-September 12)
Hurricane Betsy caused more than $6 billion in damage to Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana. More than 35,000 New Orleans residents had to be rescued from floods by boats and helicopters. This hurricane was the start of a continuing trend - fewer loss of human life (75 people died) but increasing loss of property.

East Pakistan (1965, December 15)
Another cyclone, the third of the year, killed 15,000 people.

Texas, USA and Mexico (Beulah) (1967, September 20)
Hurricane Beulah hit on the United States-Mexico border near the Rio Grande Valley, resulting in the worst Mexican flooding of the 20th century. Towns and villages also suffered severe damage. Tens of thousands of homes were destroyed and several thousand cattle lost. Only 38 people, however, died.

Gulf Coast (Camille) (1969, August 14-22)
Hurricane Camille hit Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama with 170 mph winds and 200 mph gusts. The storm then moved over the Mid-Atlantic region, releasing 27 inches of rain in one day over Virginia and West Virginia. Losses were recorded at $1.5 billion - a new record. 225 people died, most in the Mississippi Delta, where many ignored the storm warnings. Apparently, few people believed in winds over 200 miles per hour. One Gulf motel even advertised a “hurricane party” for the adventurous who wanted to watch the storm develop. Twenty-foot-high waves destroyed the motel and took a dozen of the partygoers.

East Pakistan (Bangladesh) (1970, November 13)
At 9 a.m. on November 10, a low-pressure area developed in the Bay of Bengal. As this area moved northwest, it became a cyclonic storm with winds reaching 55 miles per hour. By dawn on November 11, the storm was 650 miles southeast of Chittagong, East Pakistan, and moving northward with winds increasing to 75 mph. The bay’s water began rising higher and higher, and after midnight on November 13, the storm center moved over the Ganges River mouth south of Patuakhali. Several islands lying offshore took the full force of the hurricane. Large stretches of shoreline were hit by storm surges 10 to 15 feet higher than normal. The waters poured over the islands, sweeping away houses, crops, animals, and people. Over 1.1 million acres of rice paddies and 800,000 tons of grain vanished into the sea. One million head of livestock drowned, and as many as one million humans were lost - the worst cyclone in history and the worst natural disaster of the 20th century. Morning brought a scene of total devastation. Houses were crushed or swept away. Fields lay bare of crops. Human and animal corpses hung down from trees. Debris covered the lowlands. Hundreds of boats and ships had been beached on land. On some small islands, entire villages were washed away and not a single person left alive. For the survivors, the tragedy did not end when the hurricane elapsed. The central Pakistani government seemed indifferent to the nation’s eastern half, delaying half-hearted rescue and relief efforts. The government was forced into action only after international publicity, but by that time it was too late - thousands had perished from starvation, injuries, and disease. Refugees left for Calcutta in India. Resentment and social order resulting from the cyclone eventually became rebellion, and the East Pakistani residents declared their independence from the central government. After a short, bloody civil war, the rebels won and formed the new country of Bangladesh. Bangladesh remains a very economically and politically unstable nation, juggling debts, unpredictable weather, food shortages, and a population over 75 million. It would be impossible to abandon the region, however, for the delta area is one o the most fertile and rich agricultural areas of Asia. Several hazard-alleviation programs have been suggested following the 1970 cyclone, but none have been put into action. Some of the recommendations included establishing an early-warning radar system in the Bay of Bengal. Others have suggested developing an inter-island communications system so warnings will reach outlying villages and islands in time to prevent disaster. “Earth platforms,” high artificial hills to which to flee during flooding, could be built. These suggestions, if taken, could prevent widespread destruction in storm times, as well as help improve the country’s economic and political situation.

Mid-Atlantic States, USA (Agnes) (1972, June 14-23)
Hurricane Agnes was the most expensive natural disaster in American history. Originating near Cozumel Island, Hurricane Agnes crossed the Gulf of Mexico and struck the west coast of Florida, heading for the Atlantic. Instead, however, Agnes changed direction and moved north to New York City. Agnes did not have intense winds, but carried billions of tons of water. One June 21, now resembling a tropical rainstorm, brought the heaviest rains in many years to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. The region suffered the worst flooding in American history. Many cities all reported serious flood problems. High water levels cut off many counties from the rest of their states. The Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania ran 30 feet above normal. The river at Wilkes-Barre flowed three feet above the level of control dikes, driving more than 100,000 from their homes. Agnes would go on to flood 4,500 miles of river, 9,000 miles of streams, and cause flood damage in five states, 25 cities, and 142 counties. Over 5,000 square miles were completely submerged and 330,000 people left without homes. Half a million residents suffered some sort of property damage. 122 people lost their lives, while the nation incurred $4.5 billion in immediate property damage. The long-term damage of the storm, relief efforts, economic disruption, employment loss, etc. may never be estimated. As a result of the disaster, many people moved away, dealing a great blow to local industries.

Honduras (Fifi) (1974, September 18-20)
Hurricane Fifi hit Honduras with heavy rains and winds exceeding 110 mph. Flooding caused extensive life and property loss, taking 5,000 lives and making an addition 60,000 homeless. Choloma was hit hardest, as the hurricane triggered an avalanche of trees, boulders, and waters that killed between 2,000 and 3,000 of the townspeople. The town was also damaged by flash floods. The original avalanche dammed the river that ran through town. However, this dike later burst so the rest of the city was engulfed by onrushing water. Many of the initial survivors were killed and one square mile of town was covered with mud and debris. Half of Choloma’s population perished. In other places, thousands of acres of banana plantations were flooded and covered with thick mud. The hurricane also hit Belize, southern Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador, where 75 drowned in flash flooding.

Darwin, Australia (1974, December 25)
Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory, was a busy port with a population of 41,000. Because of its tropical weather, the architectural style consists of bungalows and ranch houses built on stilts. On Christmas Day, Cyclone Tracy suddenly changed its course from 100 miles north of the city to strike it directly. Winds exceeding 165 miles per hour lifted homes off their stilts and destroyed most of the city. 50 people perished and hundreds more were injured. Many ships were beached on land. The government, to aid the relief effort, offered free air passage out of the city and relocation opportunities. 20,000 residents left the city, although many returned to help rebuild Darwin.

Russia (1976, October 17)
A hurricane hit the eastern portion of the country and was later reported to cause widespread destruction and forest fires. The death toll is unknown.

Andhra Pradesh, India (1977, November 19-20)
A cyclone with 95 mph winds pushed huge waves from the Bay of Bengal over the coastal areas north of Madras. Upwards of a dozen villages and their residents were swept away, making the death toll as many as 10,000 people. Another tropical storm hit five days earlier, taking several thousand lives in the Tamil Nadu State.

Sri Lanka (1978, November 25)
A hurricane swept along the southeastern Indian coast and then hit Sri Lanka, killing more than 150 citizens. Storm winds pushed water onshore, flooding 45 villages on the Pamban Coast of ndia. 15 people perished and another 15,000 were driven from their homes. Thousands were also left homeless in Sri Lanka, but life and property losses were much higher. 160 prisoners escaped in Batticaloa when the roof blew off the jailhouse.

Caribbean Islands (David) (1979, August 31-September 4)
Hurricane David, one of the century’s most intense storms, hit the island of Dominica and destroyed almost all the standing structures. 1,200 people were killed but the storm continued north through Hispaniola. The storm hit north of Miami at Palm Beach and caused moderate damage and no casualties. It moved over land and died over the peninsula.

Florida and Alabama, USA (Frederic) (1979, September 12-15)
Arriving after Hurricane David, Frederic was the second major storm of the year. It passed over the Leeward Islands, Cuba, and then struck the Florida Panhandle and Alabama. Frederic caused $2 billion in damage, making it a very costly American storm. The two hurricanes were described together as “classic Cape Verde storms” because they originally formed over the African coast. Together, they killed 1,500 people, dislocated 600,000, and totaled more than $3 billion damage.

Gulf of Mexico (Allen) (1980, August 5-10)
Although Allen was predicted to be one of the most intense hurricanes of the 20th century, the hurricane exhausted itself in the Gulf of Mexico and came on land as merely a tropical storm. 200,000 evacuated residents were returned to their homes after the storm, which caused only one death. Damage was extensive but less than expected. The hurricane did, however, take 70 lives in the Caribbean Islands and Yucatan Peninsula.

Guadeloupe (1989, September 16)
Hurricane Hugo hit Guadeloupe in the Caribbean Sea with 150-mile-an-hour winds, destroying the resort town of St. François and taking 11 lives. The next day on Montserrat, the storm snapped the tops off all the trees and tore roofs off the houses. Here, it killed 10 more people and did $100 million worth of damage. It blew 90% of the houses in St. Kits, Nevis, and St. Croix to smithereens, and went on to leave the north coast of Puerto Rico a mix of smashed towns, fallen trees, and twisted power lines. Seven people died and 90,000 lost their homes as the hurricane did $300 million in damage. Hugo went on in a 2,300-mile swath, hitting Charleston, North Carolina (USA). Over half a million people fled their homes before the storm struck. 20-foot waves swept away boats, poured into the city’s streets, flooded the city hall, destroyed 30 major office buildings, and left 21 people dead. South Carolina alone estimated $5 billion in damage.

[ format this page for printing ]


[ info ]: introduction - the legend - what's a hurricane? - hurricane names - hurricane wind - hurricane power - causes of hurricanes - the hurricane - prediction - preparation - prevention - in the future - references - glossary

[ reality ]: current events - case studies - ten worst - real life stories - interviews - quotations

[ interact ]: multimedia - simulations - classroom - activities - quizzes - message board - resources

[ general ]: about - win our award - awards we've won - guestbook - help - contact us - sitemap

[ forces ]: avalanches - droughts - earthquakes - flooding - fog & mist - forest fires - hurricanes - landslides - monsoons - phenomena - severe storms - snowstorms - tornadoes - tsunamis - volcanoes - windstorms - main page