Home > Hurricane Hazel

Hurricane Hazel was the worst hurricane of 1954. On the afternoon of October 5th, hurricane hunter planes found the eye about 50 miles (80 km) east of the island of Grenada. On October 11, Hurricane Hazel crossed the island of Haiti, leaving a death toll that was estimated as high as 1,000 people. It also destroyed several towns, as well as about 40% of the coffee trees and 50% of the cacao trees.

Hazel left 6 dead as it crossed the Bahamas. By October 14th, just before reaching the Carolinas, hurricane hunter planes found Hazel's winds to have accelerated to 150 mph (240 km), 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 at 11AM on the 14th October. It was preceded by a storm surge of 14.5 feet (4.4 m). Hazel wiped out much of Garden City, South Carolina, leaving only 2 of 275 homes habitable. Coastal damage was severe along the southeastern coast of North Carolina. At Calabash the flood reached 18 feet (5.5 m) above mean low water, coincidentally arriving at the highest lunar tideThe tide is the regular rising and falling of the ocean's surface caused by changes in gravitational forces external to the Earth. The primary changing gravitational field is due to the Moon while the secondary field is caused by the Sun. Types of tides T of the year. SouthportSouthport is a city located in Brunswick County, North Carolina. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 2,351. Geography Southport is located at 33°55'28" North, 78°1'14" West (33. 924484, -78. According to the United States Census Bure and Wrightsville BeachWrightsville Beach is a town located in New Hanover County, North Carolina. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 2,593. Geography Wrightsville Beach is located at 34°12'40" North, 77°47'55" West (34. 211194, -77. According to the Unit were wrecked.

The storm center became extratropicalExtratropical is a term used in advisories and tropical summaries to indicate that a cyclone has lost its "tropical" characteristics. The term implies both poleward displacement of the cyclone and the conversion of the cyclone's primary energy source from as it passed over Raleigh, North CarolinaRaleigh is the capital of North Carolina, a state of the United States of America. It is the county seat of Wake County. As of the 2000 census, it had a population of 276,093, making it the second most populous city in North Carolina, behind Charlotte., early on the 15th. Hazel toppled treeThis article is about the biological organisms known as trees. For other meanings of the word see tree (disambiguation). oak tree in Denmark A tree can be defined as a large perennial woody plant. Though there is no set definition of size, it is generallys and flooded communities through VirginiaVirginia is one of the original 13 states of the United States that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution and is generally classified as part of the South. Its official name is the Commonwealth of Virginia it is one of four Commonwealth and all the way up to the CanadianCanada historically the Dominion of Canada is the second-largest, and northernmost, country in the world. It is a decentralized federation of 10 provinces and 3 territories, governed as a constitutional monarchy, and formed in 1867 through an act of Confe border. Wind gusts to 100 mph (160 km/h) were recorded as far as upstate New York. In the United States alone, Hazel had killed 95 people, and had done $251,630,000 (U.S) worth of property damage.

But the storm was not done. It was still laden with moisture. Moving very rapidly, it ran into a cold air mass over Ontario, Canada and gave up its rain. By midnight on the 15th a historic 21 cm (8.5 inches) of rain fell on the watersheds of the 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 2000 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 a period of one hour. Monetary damages in the Toronto area were estimated at $25 million (in 1954 Canadian dollars).

In its aftermath, Toronto and the surrounding communities implemented policies to no longer develop in ravines or floodplains, to avoid the recurrence of death and destruction caused by Hazel.