Hurricane Emily (1993)

Hurricane Emily (1993)

Hurricane Emily was the fifth named storm of the 1993 hurricane season. Emily reached its peak intensity of 115mph on its approach to North Carolina. The storm caused record flooding in the Outer Banks of North Carolina while remaining just offshore. It is the only major hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

About Hurricane Emily (1993) in brief

Summary Hurricane Emily (1993)Hurricane Emily was the fifth named storm of the 1993 hurricane season. Emily developed from a tropical wave northeast of the Lesser Antilles on August 22. It strengthened into a tropical storm and was upgraded to a hurricane the next day. Emily reached its peak intensity of 115mph on its approach to North Carolina. The storm caused record flooding in the Outer Banks of North Carolina while remaining just offshore. Emily dissipated on September 6 to the southeast of Newfoundland. It was the first yet strongest hurricane of the year’s hurricane season, and the first storm to be named Emily in the Atlantic Ocean since Wilma in 1961. It caused damage in North Carolina and Virginia, and three swimmers drowned as a result of Emily. It also displaced 160,000 people during the busy Labor Day weekend; the loss in tourism revenue amounted to USD 10 million. About 1,600 residents on Ocracoke and Hatteras islands rode out the storm in their homes, and emergency officials stayed behind. Emily produced strong winds that coincided with high tides during a full moon, causing severe flooding along the Pamlico Sound. It downed thousands of trees and wrecked 553 homes—168 of which completely destroyed—leaving a quarter of the Cape Hattersas population homeless. Emily was centered roughly 1,000 mi east of the Florida peninsula, passing well south of Bermuda, and was centered about 1,500 miles east of New York City when it became a major hurricane. It became a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale, intensifying further because of warm waters and further intensification was expected because of a ridge of high pressure to its north.

The threat of Emily prompted hurricane warnings for much of the North Carolina coast and northward through Delaware. Emily stalled again, this time northeast of Bermuda,. Emily stalled northeast of Newfoundland, and dissipated in the early morning hours of September 7. It is the only major hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. since Hurricane Katrina in Katrina in 2005, which made landfall in Louisiana in the United States in the morning of September 11, 2005. Emily is considered one of the most destructive hurricanes of the 20th century, with winds of up to 150mph (250 km/h) and gusts of more than 100 mph (160 kph) in some parts of the Caribbean and the Florida Keys. It has also been known to cause power outages in parts of Florida, Georgia, Maryland, and New Jersey. Emily has been named after a woman who was killed by a falling tree during a storm in 1993 in her home state of South Carolina. She was also known as the “Mother of the Atlantic” because of her mother’s nickname, “Mamma”, and her father’s name, “Pam” “Pete” “The Great Hurricane of ’93” was named after her mother, who died in a house fire in South Carolina in 1993. Emily became a hurricane on August 26, and by August 27, it was centered 1,200 miles east-northeast of Bermuda.