Hurricane Donna
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| Category 5 hurricane (SSHS) | ||
|---|---|---|
 Donna over the Florida Keys |
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| Formed | August 29, 1960 | |
| Dissipated | September 14, 1960 | |
| Highest winds |
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| Lowest pressure | 930 mbar (hPa; 27.47 inHg) | |
| Fatalities | 364 direct | |
| Damage | $900 million (1960 USD) $7 billion (2008 USD) |
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| Areas affected |
Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Bahamas, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Atlantic Canada (Most land areas ever affected by an Atlantic hurricane) | |
| Part of the 1960 Atlantic hurricane season |
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Hurricane Donna in the 1960 Atlantic hurricane season was a Category 5 Cape Verde-type hurricane that interfered with the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispanola, Cuba, The Bahamas, and every state on the East Coast of the United States. It caused billions of US dollars in damages and killed an estimated 364 people.
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[edit] Storm history
Hurricane Donna holds the record for retaining "major hurricane" status (category 3 or greater on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale) in the Atlantic Basin for the longest period of time on record. For nine days, September 2 to September 11, Donna consistently had sustained winds of at least 115 mph (185 km/h). From the moment it became a tropical depression to when it dissipated after becoming an extratropical storm, Donna roamed the Atlantic from August 29 to September 14, a total of 17 days. While crossing the Atlantic Donna briefly achieved Category 5 strength.
After its voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, Donna moved north of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola before crossing the Bahamas.
The storm made its first Florida landfall in the community of Marathon, centered on Key Vaca in the middle Florida Keys. At this time, Donna was a Category 4 hurricane with estimated maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (230 km/h) and gusts of up to 180 mph (290 km/h), with a minimum central pressure of 27.46 inHg (930 mbar). A storm surge of 13 feet (4.0 m) was also reported.[1]
The storm crossed into the Gulf of Mexico and its course shifted northward. Donna paralleled the southwest coast of Florida until it made a second Florida landfall between Naples and Fort Myers, again as a Category 4 hurricane.
After crossing the Florida peninsula, it continued and moved back out into the Atlantic Ocean near Daytona Beach. Donna headed up the East Coast, and made another landfall at Topsail Beach, North Carolina. It then finished its trip by heading into New England, with a final landfall across Long Island, New York.
| Highest ACE hurricanes | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Name | Season | ACE | ||||
| 1 | "San Ciriaco" | 1899 | 73.57 | ||||
| 2 | Ivan | 2004 | 70.38 | ||||
| 3 | "Four" | 1926 | 67.59 | ||||
| 4 | Donna | 1960 | 64.55 | ||||
| 5 | "Charleston" | 1893 | 63.53 | ||||
| Main article: Accumulated Cyclone Energy | |||||||
| Source: This list | |||||||
Donna, unlike Hurricane Charley which followed a similar track in 2004, was a slow-moving storm. Donna dumped 10 to 12 inches (300 mm) of rain in the southern half of Florida, along with about seven inches in the northern half. The three weeks prior to Donna's landfall produced a 6-7 inch surplus in rain before the hurricane hit, exacerbating the problem.
[edit] Impact
| Region | Deaths |
|---|---|
| Saint Martin | 7[1] |
| Puerto Rico | 107[2] |
| Bahamas | ?[3] |
| United States | 50[4] |
| Total | 364 |
Hurricane Donna was a very destructive storm given that it affected the most land areas in history, a record held until Hurricane Wilma in 2005. About 364 people were killed by the hurricane, 148 direct and 216 indirect.
[edit] Leeward Islands
A weather station in St. Maarten reported wind gusts up to 110 mph (180 km/h) and a 952 pressure reading while St. Thomas reported a 66 mph (52 knot) gust as the center of Donna passed 35 miles (56 km) north of the island. In Puerto Rico, Donna produced storm tides between four to six feet. [1]
Donna killed seven people and caused minimal damage when it passed though the Virgin Islands, in Puerto Rico, although the center of the storm was 85 miles (137 km) offshore, the outer rain bands brought heavy rains that caused serious flashflooding which killed 107 people (85 of them in Humacao). [1]
[edit] Bahamas
Turks Island escaped the brunt of the hurricane, receiving only 50-60 mph winds and 12 inches (300 mm) of rain which fell in a twelve hour period. However the rest of the Bahamas were not as lucky as the hurricane tore away the anemometer in Ragged Island and forced several people to seek shelter at a missile base. Despite the damage there were no deaths and damage estimates are not available. [1]
[edit] Eastern United States
| Rank | Hurricane | Season | Cost (2005 USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Miami” | 1926 | $157 billion |
| 2 | “Galveston” | 1900 | $99.4 billion |
| 3 | Katrina | 2005 | $81.0 billion |
| 4 | “Galveston” | 1915 | $68.0 billion |
| 5 | Andrew | 1992 | $55.8 billion |
| 6 | “New England” | 1938 | $39.2 billion |
| 7 | “Pinar del Río” | 1944 | $38.7 billion |
| 8 | “Okeechobee” | 1928 | $33.6 billion |
| 9 | Donna | 1960 | $26.8 billion |
| 10 | Camille | 1969 | $21.2 billion |
| Main article: List of Atlantic hurricanes by cost | |||
Florida suffered profound losses from Donna, more than any other state. Damage in the Keys at the original point of landfall was most severe, where Donna's winds and storm surge destroyed many buildings and vessels. 35% of the state's grapefruit crop was lost, 10% of the orange and tangerine crop was lost, and the avocado crop was almost completely wiped out. The day after the storm hit, President Dwight D. Eisenhower declared a disaster area from the Keys up to Central Florida.
Although weaker, it caused considerable and widespread damage in North Carolina and New York. Donna was one of the few hurricanes to affect every state along the East Coast; it is one of few storms to produce hurricane-force winds along the east coast from South Carolina to Maine[2]. Fifty people were reported dead in the United States, with damages totalling to $3.04 billion (2004 USD) [5]. Donna crossed directly over Texas Tower #4, causing severe damage to the structure; the tower was used for radar surveillance of the western Atlantic Ocean during the Cold War.[3]
[edit] Retirement
- See also: List of retired Atlantic hurricane names
The name Donna was retired and will never be used for an Atlantic hurricane again; the name was replaced by Dora in 1964.
[edit] See also
- List of retired Atlantic hurricane names
- List of Florida hurricanes (1950-1974)
- List of wettest tropical cyclones in Massachusetts
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Historic Images of Florida Hurricanes (Florida State Archives)
- NOAA Hurricane Research Division Donna page
- HPC Rainfall Page on Donna
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