Tuesday, July 27, 2010

1930-1934

1930

Only two storms formed in this season (presumably). The second one was non-trivial though, being one of the stronger hurricanes to hit the Dominican Republic, directly striking Santo Domingo. Anyway, insane damage there, but little damage in the other places it visited (Cuba, Puerto Rico, Florida). The hurricane is the fifth deadliest Atlantic hurricane ever (possibly) with a death toll between 2000 and 8000.

1931

After a parade of tropical storms the season was enlivened by the deadliest hurricane in Belize's history, which killed 2500 people. The storm struck Belize City, then the capital of the nation, on September 10, an important holiday in Belize (St. George's day). I'm guessing the pretty quick intensification also killed some people - the storm was only a TS 24 hours before landfall. The season is also notable for having a very straight hurricane.

1932

There isn't much information about it on Wikipedia but a Cat-4 struck Freeport this year, and Freeport's about the worst possible area for a hurricane to hit because then the greatest storm surge and winds are probably felt on Galveston. A Cat-5 struck the Bahamas, specifically a place called Abaco Island, causing the usual damage. It didn't really affect any other land areas. A Cat-3 struck Puerto Rico, crossing the island from east to west. The storm killed hundreds and extensively damaged the crops. I get the impression that this was one of the worst storms in Puerto Rico's history. As a bonus, the season concluded with a devastating Cat-4 that hit Cuba in November. This was probably the worst storm of the season. Supposedly, the storm surge in the Cayman Islands was 33 feet, which probably destroyed a lot of sham corporations. As for Cuba, yeah, obliteration where it hit.

1933

Twenty-one storms formed in this season, which was a record until 2005. I'm going to pass over 18 of those storms to mention three significant US hurricanes. The eighth storm of the season was a significant hurricane in the Mid-Atlantic, the Chesapeake-Potomac hurricane. The storm made landfall on the Outer Banks, passed directly over Norfolk, and delivered a significant storm surge to communities on the Chesapeake Bay and up the Potomac (including to DC). Seventy years later Isabel took a similar track. Next, the twelfth storm, the strong Treasure Coast hurricane, which hit Florida around Jupiter as a cat-4. It destroyed homes and power lines and caused $2 million in damage, which I suppose was a lot for the time. Finally, the thirteenth storm, the Outer Banks hurricane, which isn't as significant as the previous storms: it recurved away from land after reaching North Carolina and eventually ended up in Nova Scotia. Between those areas its main effects were probably high waves.

1934

The most notable storm occurred in June and was mostly notable for an unusual track and major flooding damage. The storm spent an incredibly long time hanging around Belize and Honduras, and that caused the floods and the thousands of deaths. The hurricane later hit Louisiana but it didn't do that much damage there.

No comments:

Post a Comment