1947 Fort Lauderdale Hurricane
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Category 5 hurricane (SSHS) | ||
|---|---|---|
 Man dwarfed by heavy surf near Miami |
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| Formed | September 4, 1947 | |
| Dissipated | September 21, 1947 | |
| Highest winds |
|
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| Lowest pressure | 940 mbar (hPa; 27.77 inHg) | |
| Fatalities | 51 direct[1] | |
| Damage | $110 million (1947 USD) $1 billion (2008 USD) |
|
| Areas affected |
The Bahamas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi | |
| Part of the 1947 Atlantic hurricane season |
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The Fort Lauderdale Hurricane (or Pompano Beach Hurricane) was an intense Category 5 hurricane that affected the Bahamas, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi in September of the 1947 Atlantic hurricane season. The fourth tropical cyclone, third hurricane, and first intense hurricane of the 1947 Atlantic hurricane season, it developed 230 miles (370 km) east of Praia, Cape Verde. It quickly strengthened to a hurricane on September 4. Later, it turned southwest on September 7, and it steadily resumed a northwest motion on September 10. A large, powerful hurricane, it attained its peak intensity of 160 mph (260 km/h) over the Abaco Islands, and it made landfall near Pompano Beach, Florida. It passed over southern Florida, and it eventually struck southeastern Louisiana as a weaker Category 3 hurricane. It killed 51 people and caused $110 million (1947 USD) in damage.
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[edit] Storm history
On September 2, an area of low pressure was detected over French West Africa in association with a tropical wave.[2] The system moved westward, and it moved offshore near Dakar, Senegal. On September 4, the system quickly organized to a tropical storm,[3] producing 3.36 inches (85.3 mm) of precipitation at the Pan American Airways meteorological station in Dakar.[2] Operationally, the cyclone was not observed until the S.S. Arakaka noted a well developed system on September 10. On September 5 (00 UTC), the tropical storm rapidly strengthened to a hurricane, moving westward on an average motion near 17 mph (25 km/h).[2] On September 7, the cyclone turned southwest; it lost 2.70 degrees of latitude from September 7–9.[3] On September 9, it strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane. On September 10, the hurricane resumed a northwest movement, and it attained maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185 km/h) on September 11. On September 15, the cyclone continued to strengthen, and its forward motion nearly stalled.[2]
On September 16, the hurricane attained its peak intensity of 160 mph (260 km/h) 95 miles (155 km) east of Hope Town, Abaco Islands.[3] The storm crossed the northern portion of the Abaco Islands, where a weather station claimed a wind reading of 160 mph (260 km/h).[2] As the storm passed over the Gulf Stream, it lost some strength before landfall.[3] The storm made landfall on September 17 near Fort Lauderdale, Florida as a minimal Category 4 hurricane. Winds of hurricane force extended out roughly 120 miles (195 km) from the center in all directions.[2] The cyclone produced peak gusts of 155 mph (250 km/h) and sustained winds of 122 mph (195 km/h) at Hillsboro Inlet Light near Pompano Beach;[2] the reading was the highest measured wind speed recorded in the state of Florida until Hurricane Andrew.[4] The hurricane moved slowly inland near 10 mph (16 km/h),[2] and it diminished to a Category 2 hurricane over the Everglades.[3] The cyclone entered the Gulf of Mexico near Naples, and it produced gusts of 120 mph (190 km/h) at Sanibel Island Light near Fort Myers.[2]
On September 18, the hurricane's maximum sustained winds diminished to 90 mph (145 km/h).[3] It turned west-northwest, and its forward motion increased to 15 mph (25 km/h).[2] On September 19, the hurricane moved ashore over Saint Bernard Parish, Louisiana as a major hurricane.[5] The hurricane weakened as it moved over the New Orleans metropolitan area, although its strong winds gusted to 110 mph (175 km/h) in New Orleans. Its winds decreased to 85 mph (135 km/h) near Baton Rouge, and the cyclone diminished to a strong tropical storm over central Louisiana.[3] On September 20, it weakened to a tropical depression over northeastern Texas.[3] The remnant circulation turned northeast over southeastern Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas. On September 21, it dissipated over southern Missouri.
[edit] Preparations
Hurricane warnings were issued for the Florida east coast from Titusville to Miami.[6] Northern commercial flights were grounded at Jacksonville. 1,500 National Guard troops were ready for mobilization if "deemed necessary" by Florida Governor Millard Caldwell.[6]
[edit] Impact
[edit] Bahamas
Damage and deaths in the Bahamas are unknown. Green Turtle Cay was flooded by 2 feet (610 mm) of water.[7] The cyclone's strong winds damaged or destroyed many homes on the western end of Grand Bahama; all docks received damages.[8]
[edit] Florida
At the storm's first landfall, an 11 foot storm surge was reported along the Florida coast. Large stretches of State Highway A1A between Palm Beach and Boynton Beach were washed out by the wave action.[9] The Boca Raton Airport, known then as Boca Raton Army Air Field, received significant damage from the storm, reporting $3 million in damages.[10] The hurricane was unusually large: some reports indicate hurricane-force winds may have extended 120 miles out from the eye center (from Cape Canaveral to Coral Gables).
At Lake Okeechobee a 20 foot (6 m) storm surge was reported along the south shore between Clewiston and Moore Haven, nearly overrunning the Herbert Hoover Dike that surrounded the lake. Unlike in the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane, the dike held and a much larger catastrophe was averted. However, this 1947 storm prompted a further strengthening of the dike in the 1960s.
The storm was also slow-moving (about 10 mph) and dropped a prodigious amount of rain over the area–records for single-month rainfall were set in many areas, some of which still stand today (others were broken in the 1992 or 2004 seasons), and flooding was among the worst in southern Florida's history.[11] The storm killed 17 people in Florida.[12] The hurricane damaged Citrus crops in the Fort Pierce area, and losses were estimated at $4,000,000.[13]
[edit] Gulf Coast
A large part of Greater New Orleans was flooded, with two feet of water shutting down Moisant Airport and six feet of water in parts of Jefferson Parish. The storm produced an estimated 100 million US dollars worth of damage to the city.[14]
A 12 foot storm surge was reported along the western half of the Mississippi coastline, causing heavy damage in Bay St. Louis (which received a 15 foot storm surge),[12] Gulfport, and Biloxi.
Although weaker at its second landfall, the hydrology of this location makes it particularly vulnerable to hurricanes. 12 people were killed in Louisiana and 22 in Mississippi.[12]
[edit] Aftermath
Coming as it did shortly after the end of World War II and at the start of the Cold War, and striking an area that had recently been hit by other, even more destructive hurricanes, this hurricane was largely forgotten. Building codes and hurricane awareness had improved in Florida since the destructive hurricanes of the 1920s, limiting both damage and loss of life. Yet if this same storm were to hit today it would probably do around $11.72 billion (2004 USD) in damages.[15]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastdeadly.shtml NOAA/NHC deadliest hurricanes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j H. C. Sumner (1947). 1947 Monthly Weather Review. U.S. Weather Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-18.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Hurricane Research Division (2007). Atlantic hurricane best track. NOAA. Retrieved on 2008-01-18.
- ^ Williams, John M. and Duedall, Iver W. (1997). Florida Hurricanes and Tropical Storms: Revised Edition. University Press of Florida. Retrieved on 2008-01-19.
- ^ Blake, Rappaport, and Landsea (2006). The Deadliest, Costliest, and Most Intense United States Tropical Cyclones (1851 to 2006). NOAA. Retrieved on 2008-01-19.
- ^ a b The Associated Press (1947). Storm Nears Florida: Rich Resort Area Periled. Kingsport News. Retrieved on 2008-01-22.
- ^ Hurricane (Continued From Page 1). The Times Recorder. Retrieved on 2008-01-22.
- ^ Assess Atlantic Hurricane Damage. The Lethbridge Herald. Retrieved on 2008-01-27.
- ^ Barnes, Jay. 1998. Florida's Hurricane History. Chapel Hill Press.
- ^ Boca Raton Airport Authority. The History of the Boca Raton Airport. Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mfl/newpage/dade_events.html NOAA: Dade County historic weather events
- ^ a b c http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/general/lib/mgch.html NOAA: Gulf Coast hurricanes.
- ^ United Press (1947). Florida Storm Changes Course. The Daily Courier. Retrieved on 2008-01-26.
- ^ http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lch/research/laerly20hur2.php NOAA - Louisiana hurricane history
- ^ http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/costliesttable3.html NOAA/NHC costliest US hurricanes (normalized)
