Hurricane
Disasters Live
Hurricane
Disasters Live
An eHuggy Network Website © Copyright Hurricane Disasters Live
On August 29, 1775 a hurricane hit the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It turned northeastward and left the state on September 2, bringing heavy wind and rain to southeastern Virginia. A letter from New Bern, North Carolina recounted, "We had a violent hurricane…which has done a vast deal of damage here, at the Bar, and at Matamuskeet, near 150 lives being lost at the Bar, and 15 in one neighborhood at Matamuskeet."
The September 9, 1775 edition of The Virginia Gazette reported: "The shocking accounts of damage done by the rains last week are numerous: Most of the mill-dams are broke, the corn laid almost level with the ground, and fodder destroyed; many ships and other vessels drove ashore and damaged, at Norfolk, Hampton, and York. In the heavy storm of wind and rain, which came on last Saturday, and continued most part of the night, the Mercury man of war as drove from her station abreast of the town of Norfolk, and stuck flat aground in shoal water."
At least 163 people were killed
A storm struck the eastern coast of Newfoundland on September 9, 1775. It is uncertain if this storm was the remnants of the hurricane that had crossed the Outer Banks over a week earlier; if so, it was probaby extratropical by this time.
Newfoundland’s fisheries "received a very severe stroke from the violence of a storm of wind, which almost swept everything before it," the colonial governor Richard Duff wrote shortly after it struck. "A considerable number of boats, with their crews, have been totally lost, several vessels wrecked on the shores," he said. Ocean levels rose to heights "scarcely ever known before" and caused great devastation, Duff reported.
A total of 4,000 sailors, mostly from England and Ireland, were reported to have been drowned, a localized storm surge is reported to have reached heights of between 20 and 30 feet. Losses from the hurricane include many fishing boats and two armed schooners of the Royal Navy, who were on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland to enforced Britain's fishing rights.
The hurricane is Atlantic Canada’s first recorded hurricane and Canada's most tragic natural disaster (and by far the deadliest hurricane to ever hit Canada), as well as the eighth deadliest hurricane in history.
Watch vs Warning - Know the Difference
A HURRICANE WATCH issued for your part of the coast indicates the possibility that you could experience hurricane conditions within 36 hours. This watch should trigger your family's disaster plan, and protective measures should be initiated, especially those actions that require extra time such as securing a boat, leaving a barrier island, etc.
A HURRICANE WARNING issued for your part of the coast indicates that sustained winds of at least 74 mph are expected within 24 hours or less. Once this warning has been issued, your family should be in the process of completing protective actions and deciding the safest location to be during the storm.
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The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale
CATEGORY
Category 5 =
Category 4 =
Category 3 =
Category 2 =
Category 1 =
Tropical Storm =
Tropical Depression =
WIND SPEEDS
155 mph +
131 - 154 mph
111 - 130 mph
96 - 110 mph
74 - 95mph
39 - 73 mph
38 mph or less
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