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Hurricane Hazel
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Hurricane Hazel was the worst hurricane of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season and one of the worst hurricanes of the 20th century. Hazel killed as many as 1,000 people in Haiti before striking the United States just north of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and south of Wilmington, North Carolina as a Category 4 hurricane. Nineteen people were killed in North Carolina, and 81 people were killed when it subsequently hit Toronto, Ontario. It is the strongest hurricane ever recorded to strike so far inland.
he afternoon of October 5, hurricane hunter planes found the eye about 50 miles (80 km) east of the island of Grenada.
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Hurricane Hazel was the worst hurricane of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season and one of the worst hurricanes of the 20th century. Hazel killed as many as 1,000 people in Haiti before striking the United States just north of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and south of Wilmington, North Carolina as a Category 4 hurricane. Nineteen people were killed in North Carolina, and 81 people were killed when it subsequently hit Toronto, Ontario. It is the strongest hurricane ever recorded to strike so far inland.
Meteorological history
On the afternoon of October 5, hurricane hunter planes found the eye about 50 miles (80 km) east of the island of Grenada. On October 11, Hurricane Hazel crossed Haiti. It then moved northward across the Bahamas. By October 14, just before reaching the Carolinas, hurricane hunter planes found Hazel's winds to have accelerated to 150 mph (240 km/h), and the storm was moving at an incredible forward speed of 30 mph (48 km/h).
The storm made landfall at the North Carolina/South Carolina border in the morning on October 15 . The storm center became extratropical as it passed over Raleigh, North Carolina (while a strong Category 3 storm) early on October 15.
The rapid forward speed allowed hurricane conditions to spread farther inland than any other storm in recorded history. Wind gusts over 100 mph (160 km/h) were recorded as far as upstate New York, where Hazel still carried Category 2-force winds. The 113 mph (180 km/h) gust recorded in New York City, over 200 miles (320 km) from the storm's center, is still the highest wind speed recorded in the city's history.
Moving very rapidly, the storm ran into a cold air mass over Toronto, Ontario and gave up its moisture — 210 mm (8.5 in) of rain. Wind gusts were estimated to be over 150 km/h (90 mph) and sustained winds were as high as 124 km/h (77 mph), meaning it was still a hurricane-strength storm – after over 600 miles (960 km) on land. 81 people were killed in Toronto where entire neighborhoods were washed away. It weakened below hurricane strength after about 18 hours on land about 120 miles (200 km) north of Toronto, at around 45°N latitude.
No longer hurricane-strength, the storm then continued north, into sparsely populated areas, then crossed the Arctic Circle, and finally broke near Scandinavia.
Records
Hurricane Hazel is the only recorded Category 4 hurricane to make landfall as far north as North Carolina, although several other hurricanes (including Diana of 1984 and Helene of 1958) have come very close to doing so. There have been ten recorded Category 3 hurricanes to strike North Carolina since 1851.
Impact
Haiti
When it struck Haiti on October 12, Hurricane Hazel totally destroyed three towns, causing a death toll estimated to be as high as 1,000 people. It also destroyed about 40% of the coffee trees and 50% of the cacao trees.
Bahamas
Hazel left six dead throughout the Bahamas.
United States
Hazel made landfall near Calabash, North Carolina, halfway between Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and Wilmington, North Carolina along the North Carolina/South Carolina state border, and it destroyed every pier along a 170-mile (270-kilometer) stretch of coastline. Hazel wiped out much of Garden City, South Carolina, especially its business district, where only three of the 275 buildings escaped damage and only two houses out of 275 remained habitable.
At landfall, Hazel brought a storm surge of 14.5 feet (4.4 m) to a large area of coastline. Coastal damage was severe along the southeastern coast of North Carolina. The highest storm surge was recorded at Calabash, coincidentally arriving at the highest lunar tide of the year and reaching 18 feet (5.5 m) above mean low water. Southport and Wrightsville Beach were wrecked. Nineteen people were killed in North Carolina, with several hundred more injured; 15,000 homes were destroyed and another 40,000 damaged.
In Washington DC and New York City, record winds were reported. The storm was so bad that gusts forced the abandonment of control towers at Newark and La Guardia Airports.
Hazel toppled trees and flooded communities through Virginia and all the way to the Canadian border. Damage was reported throughout the Mid-Atlantic States from northern New York to South Carolina. In the United States alone, Hazel killed 95 people, and caused US$281 million ($1.94 billion c.2005) worth of property damage.
Canada
Hazel was very deadly, particularly in the province of Ontario.
By midnight on October 15, a historic 210 mm (8.5 in) of rain fell on the watersheds of Toronto, Ontario's Don and Humber rivers, and the Etobicoke and Mimico creeks. Mountainous waves lashed the shoreline of Lake Ontario. The Holland Marsh north of Toronto, a major muckland agricultural region, was completely submerged and highways through the marsh were made impassable by the storm. The flash flooding that followed destroyed 20 bridges, killed 81 people, including five firemen who died in rescue attempts, and left about 4000 families homeless. A wall of water rushing down the Humber River swept away a full block of homes on Raymore Drive, and killed 32 sleeping residents in an hour. It was the deadliest hurricane to hit Canada in recorded history, and no natural disaster since has led to such a high death toll on Canadian soil. Monetary damages in Toronto were estimated at C$25 million (2009: $ 200,354,600 CAD ). Wind damage was also reported. In its aftermath, Toronto and the surrounding communities implemented policies banning home construction and other development projects in ravines or floodplains, to avoid the recurrence of death and destruction caused by Hazel. When the storm was over, it changed the Toronto landscape forever. The storm had also damaged a completed but unopened bridge over the Humber river that carried Highway 401. The bridge was so badly damaged by the storm, that it had to be dynamited and completely rebuilt, delaying the freeway's completion in Toronto by nearly a year.
The Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada estimates the total cost of Hurricane Hazel for Canada, taking into account long term effects such as economic disruption, the cost of lost property, and recovery costs, as being C$1,031,643,000 (2009: $8,267,777,000 CAD ).
A blue high-water mark was painted on the Bloor St bridge that crosses the Humber River. It is notable in that the mark is over 15 feet above the subway line that now crosses the river parallel to Bloor St. However the subway line did not run that far west untill 1966.
In 2004 the Canadian Hurricane Centre commemorated the 50th anniversary of Hurricane Hazel with a comprehensive website
Retirement
The name Hazel was retired and is unlikely to be used for an Atlantic hurricane again; this was before the formal lists were created, so it was not replaced with any particular name.
See also
- List of Atlantic hurricanes
- List of retired Atlantic hurricane names
Further reading
External links
American links:
Canadian links:
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