Hurricane Hazel was the deadliest, second costliest, and most intense hurricane of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm killed at least 469 people in Haiti before striking the United States near the border between North and South Carolina as a Category 4 hurricane. After causing 95 fatalities in the US, Hazel struck Canada as an extratropical storm, raising the death toll by 81. In Canada alone, over C$135 million of damage was incurred. As a result of the high death toll and the damage caused by Hazel, its name was retired from use for North Atlantic hurricanes.
About Hurricane Hazel in brief
Hurricane Hazel was the deadliest, second costliest, and most intense hurricane of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm killed at least 469 people in Haiti before striking the United States near the border between North and South Carolina as a Category 4 hurricane. After causing 95 fatalities in the US, Hazel struck Canada as an extratropical storm, raising the death toll by 81 people, mostly in Toronto. In Canada alone, over C$135 million of damage was incurred. As a result of the high death toll and the damage caused by Hazel, its name was retired from use for North Atlantic hurricanes. The hurricane made landfall near Calabash, North Carolina, destroying most waterfront dwellings. It then traveled north along the Atlantic coast. Hazel affected Virginia, Washington, D. C., West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York; it brought gusts near 160 kmh and caused USD 281 million in damage. The effects of Hazel were particularly unprecedented in Toronto due to a combination of heavy rainfall during the preceding weeks, a lack of experience in dealing with tropical storms, and the storm’s unexpected retention of power despite traveling 1,100 km over land. On October 9, it is estimated Hazel intensified into a major hurricane with winds of 115 mph. Originally, it was estimated that Hazel attained these winds the day prior. The intensification was confirmed on October 10, when aircraft noted a well-defined eye on radar imagery.
Hazel slowed in the central Caribbean and turned sharply to the north-northeast toward an upper-level radar low, steered by a low-level low. At 00: 00 UTC on October 12, Hazel made landfall along the Tiburon Peninsula of Haiti as a hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. There were no strong wind readings at landfall, but based on previous radar and aircraft and satellite observations, winds were officially estimated at 120 mph. After moving through the Gulf of Gonâve, Hazel curved north to the more northerly end of the Caribbean Sea and curved to the east-southeast. It was estimated the storm attained hurricane status at 00:00 UTC on October 6. At the same time, the storm made landfall on Grenada with winds of 75 mph, and later that day, it curved north-eastward to the northern Venezuela coast. The Hurricane Hunters observed a tropical cyclone about 30 mi east of the island of Grenada with winds estimated at 100 mph with a small eye 5 mi in diameter and a central barometric pressure of 1,002 mbar. The winds gradually increased as the storm moved westward, parallel to the Northern Venezuela coast, and by October 8, the tiny eye increased to a diameter of 29 mi, while the winds reached 85 mph Although the winds were estimated as high as 125 mph, the Hurricane Hunters encountered severe turbulence, which hospitalized one crew member.
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This page is based on the article Hurricane Hazel published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 21, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
