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Hurricane Preparedness Week: Inland Flooding

 

 

# 6358

 

Hurricane Agnes, which made landfall in Florida’s panhandle as a category 1 storm in 1972, would scarcely be remembered today were it not for the 12 to 18 inches of rain it dumped across Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia almost a week later.

 

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Amazingly, of the 122 deaths associated with this storm, only 9 occurred in Florida where Agnes made landfall. The rest - 113 fatalities - were caused by inland fresh water flooding, with New York and Pennsylvania suffering the highest loses.

 

NOAA describes the flooding damage this way:

 

Hurricane Agnes was the costliest natural disaster in the United States at that time. Damage was estimated at $3.1 billion and 117 deaths were reported. Hardest hit was Pennsylvania, with $2.1 billion in damages and 48 deaths, making Hurricane Agnes the worst natural disaster ever to hit the state. The damage over Pennsylvania was so extreme, the entire state was declared a disaster area by President Richard Nixon.

 

While we tend to concern ourselves most over the rare CATEGORY 5 storm (like Andrew in 1992 or Camille in 1969), it is often the slow moving minimal hurricane or tropical storm that produces extensive damage hundreds . . . sometimes more than 1000 miles inland.

 

Other storms with far-reaching impact include:

 

  • Hurricane Hazel, which had already devastated Haiti (400-1000 deaths) came ashore on the North-South Carolina border in August of 1954.  She claimed 95 lives in the United States and was responsible for as many as 100 deaths in Canada.
  • The CAT 5 monster Camille, which claimed 143 lives along the Gulf coast also killed 113 people in associated flooding in Virginia.
  • And Audrey, the horrific `surprise’ gulf coast CAT 4 storm of 1957 -that claimed more than 550 lives -  at least 15 of those victims were in Canada.

 

Which is why today’s focus in NOAA’s National Hurricane Preparedness Week is inland flooding.

 

 

 

A graphics used in this video is one I’ve featured before, showing that the majority of hurricane related deaths between 1970 and 1999 were due to fresh water drowning.

 

 

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For more on this week’s preparedness campaign, click on the graphic below, and watch the videos on USWEATHERGOV’s Youtube Channel.

 

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And to become better prepared as an individual, family, business owner, or community to deal with hurricanes, or any other type of disaster: visit the following preparedness sites.

 

FEMA http://www.fema.gov/index.shtm

READY.GOV http://www.ready.gov/

AMERICAN RED CROSS http://www.redcross.org/

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