Hurricane Edna

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This article is about the 1954 hurricane; there was also a Tropical Storm Edna during the 1968 Atlantic hurricane season.

Hurricane Edna

Category 3 hurricane (SSHS)

Formed

September 2, 1954

Dissipated

September 15, 1954

Highest
winds

120 mph (195 km/h) (1-minute sustained)

Lowest pressure

954 mbar (hPa; 28.18 inHg)

Fatalities

20 direct, 9 indirect

Damage

$250 million (1954 USD)
$2 billion (2006 USD)

Areas
affected

North Carolina, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Atlantic Canada

Part of the
1954 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Edna was a Category 3 hurricane that hugged the east coast before striking New England in mid-September of 1954.

1 Storm history
2 Impact
- 2.1 Retirement
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Storm history

Storm path

Edna formed early in the month off Barbados. Slowly strengthening, Edna followed the shape of the Caribbean islands, never moving more than 100 miles away from land. Edna was a Category 3 by the time it took aim at North Carolina's Outer Banks. Edna raked the Outer Banks, which had already been devastated by Hurricane Carol less than a month earlier. Fortunately, Edna's strongest winds were too far offshore to affect the battered area. The hurricane weakened slightly as it moved north over cooler waters. Before striking New England, its eye actually split into two different ones, up to 60 miles apart. It then moved over Cape Cod before finally making landfall near Eastport, Maine with sustained winds of around 92 mph.

[edit] Impact

Edna was one of Maine's worst hurricanes, yet this storm could have been much worse. Carol hit Long Island directly as a Category 2, while Edna hit a less densely populated part of New England and was weaker. As it was, Edna still killed 29 people and caused $40.5 million in damage. For the citizens of Maine, it was a painful reminder that they were not immune from the dangers of hurricanes. The state would have the occasional hurricane brush by in the years to come, but none of them (with the possible exception of Gerda in 1969) were as destructive as Edna.

[edit] Retirement

See also: List of retired Atlantic hurricanes

The name Edna was eventually retired due to this storm, but only after it had been used again in the 1968 season. It will never be used for an Atlantic hurricane again.[1]