Hurricane Experiences

[HalloweenGale]

For Me:

1980s:

Allen
Alicia
Gloria
Floyd(1987)
Hugo

1990s

Klaus
Bob
Perfect Storm(hurricane Portion)
Grace

Andrew
Floyd(1993) I was in France At the time, when it was beginning ET.
Gordon
Allison
Erin
Felix
Opal
Marilyn
Luis
Arthur
Bertha
Edouard(came close to Nantucket)
Hortense
Danny
Mitch(When it came thru Fla.)
Georges
Bonnie(1998)
Charley(1998)
Hermine(1998)
Frances(1998)
Dennis(1999)
Floyd(1999)
Gert(1999) I was visiting my brother in Newfoundland, when it brushed.

2000's

Michael
Allison
Barry
Gabrielle
Jerry
Arthur
Bertha
Edouard
Gustav
Kyle
Bill
Grace(most pathetic storm ever)
Henri
Isabel
Juan
Alex
Bonnie
Charley
Frances
Gaston
Hermine
Jeanne
Cindy
Franklin
Ophelia
Wilma

[Stephanie]

You've been through the EYEWALLS of all of these??

[Margie]

I suppose this is dating me, but...Betsy. And Camille.

[EDR1222]

The earliest I can remember is Hurricane David in 1979. I was only 10, but I remember we walked over to the neighbors house when the eye passed over us. I can't say what the winds were, but if I had to guess, probably some higher end tropical storm force winds. I think there was a tornado spawned by David that did some significant damage to the Melbourne Beach area.

A few glancing blows from tropical storms in the 1980's and then Hurricane Erin in 1995. Erin didn't last too long and the winds took down some trees. As many who went through it probably recall, the record rainfall after the storm passed caused most of the problems in the Melbourne area.

A glancing blow from Floyd in 99 and also Irene the same year.
Both storms brought some pretty good tropical storm force winds to the area and Irene was a bit of a surprise as her track was forecast to be closer to the west coast of Florida.

Frances and Jeanne of 04. were definately the most intense I have experienced. We had sustained high end tropical storm force winds from both storms for long periods of time, with gusts to cat 1 from Frances and although many wind reporting stations failed, if I had to guess I would say we saw some gusts to Cat 2 as Jeanne made its closest approach to my area in the very early morning hours of Sept 26, 2004. Again, that is just a guess. Either way, Jeannes winds were the strongest I have ever experienced.

Not sure what the highest winds were from Wilma here. Maybe 50-55 mph? I think NWS Melbourne ( a mile from my house ) recorded a wind gust close to 60 mph.

[cjrciadt]

Just Charley in 2004 a scary as heck experience. I was on the 2nd floor on an two story apartment bldg.! Hearing all the debris tearing the roof off, I expected a tornado to strike. I respect even a Cat1 cane.

[Blown Away]

1979 - David - In eye for 2 hours - 80-90mph winds!
1992 - Andrew - TS winds only!
1995 - Erin - TS winds only!
1998 - Mitch - TS winds only!
1999 - Irene - Center went over my area, no true eye.
TS winds.
2004 - Frances - In eye for 3-4 hours - 80-90mph winds!
2004 - Jeanne - In eye for 1.5 hours - 90-105mph winds!
2005 - Wilma - In eye for 1.5 hours, gusts +/- 115 mph
reported by military facility about 1 mile from
my house.
**Many other weak TS's passed over or near my area!

[GalvestonDuck]

You've been through the EYEWALLS of all of these??

Ditto.

HG, can you elaborate a little? That's an awfully big list. Obviously, a few of yours were mere brushes with the storms (as others have detailed in their posts as well). Besides Floyd, Gert, and Edouard, how many others were brushes or outbands and how many were direct hits?

As for me:
Georges - outerbands while driving from Bama to TX.
Claudette - outerbands
Allison - direct hit
Rita - experienced as a TS at evac point, but would have been a close call at home

[JonathanBelles]

well i just move down to florida 2 years ago but here is what ive been through:

arlene: summer t-storm maybe 40mph
dennis :strong summer storm 50mph 1/2 mile from a tornado
katrina : 35mph
rita: 50mph
tammy: summertime storm 25 mph
wilma: 70mph
isabel: 40mph
floyd: 60mph
jeanne:80 mph
frances :70 mph for hoursssssssssss
Ivan twice: 50mph and 20mph
andrew: dont remember i was 2 mom says 110+

[m_ru]

Well...I'll do me and then I'll do my Mother and then I'll do my Grandparents lol...I have nothing better to do at the moment.

Me:
Rita (55mph gusts)

Mom:
Betsy (young and doesn't remember much)
Flossy (not bad)
Ethel (was bad coming in but weakened before eye)
Camille (190 mph, said it was so loud you couldn't hear anything but screaming wind)
Alicia (gusts to 80mph, 8 months pregnant with my sister)
Rita (gusts to 55mph)


Grandparents:
1947 storm(my Grandmother had evacuated to a coliseum and then the water started to get in and the walls were shaking back and forth so then they were forced to leave the coliseum and wade in water up to their chests to a safer place. 145mph+)

(In old house)
Betsy (pretty bad)
Flossy (not bad)
Ethel (scary at first and then whimpy)
Camille (worst thing ever experienced by far)
Frederic (really bad, tore up Grandpa's new boat shed and blew down the big pine in the back yard...worst wind ever seen out of the northeast)
Elena (pretty bad, gusts to about 100 mph


(in new waterfront house thats on a point so they're surrounded by water on 3 sides with lots of trees and stuff...the house is on a hill so it's 28ft above sea level)

Georges(first hurricane in new waterfront house...debris got all in the yard and they had alot of tree damage...wind blew rain in ridgevents which caused water to drip down the walls and a few bricks blew off the top of the chimney...gusts a little over 100)
Isidore (water came up in yard and left debris...winds 40-50?)
Ivan (wind gusts right down the river into yard...3 or 4 trees down wind gusts to about 85mph...one tree fell on the house but only caused minor damage)
Cindy (water came up in yard...wind gusts to 70mph...scary thing was the eery sounds from all the tornadoes above that didn't touch down)
Katrina (water came 2 feet from getting in the house((the house is 28ft above sea level)) roof came off half of boat shed...deck of boat shed completely ripped off....lost tons of HUGE trees that uprooted from the already saturated ground,water blew in around some of the windows and stained the wallpaper, debris from homes across the river in the yard, tons of flotsam and logs washed up, wind gusted to 120mph)

[hookemfins]

Outer bands:

Inez
David
Gordon (TS)
Georges
Mitch (TS)
Frances
Jeanne
Dennis
Rita

Hurricane:

Donna (1 year old)
Cleo
Betsy
Andrew (17' storm surge through my partents house)
Irene
Katrina
Wilma