Georgia: 19th Century Major Hurricanes

[donsutherland1]

It has been more than a century since a major hurricane made landfall on the Georgia coast. The last major hurricane to do so was Hurricane #7 (1898), a Category 4 storm. That storm was the 5th major hurricane to make Georgia landfall in the 19th century.

With seven major hurricanes having made U.S. landfall in the last two years and the tropical Atlantic waters remaining abnormally warm, it might be a good time for Georgians, among others, to be sure that they are prepared should such a monster threaten landfall. Eventually, a major hurricane will again make such landfall.

During the 19th century, major hurricanes made landfall in Georgia as follows:

∙ September 1804: Category 3
∙ September 1824: Category 3 or 4
∙ September 1854: The “Great Carolina” Hurricane: Category 3
∙ August 1893: The “Sea Islands” Hurricane: Category 3
∙ October 1898: Category 4

The following are some descriptions of the hurricanes’ effects:

September 1804: “…we experienced one of the severest gales of wind that has happened within the recollection of our oldest inhabitants. In fact, few, very few among us, can recollect ever to have seen anything, the effects of which were so destructive, as has been the late hurricane. The storm commenced on Friday night [September 7], with a degree of violence by no means unusual or alarming. On Saturday morning it had in some measure abated; but about 9 o’clock its violence increased until about 4 or 5 o’clock, when it appeared to have gotten to its height, and continued to rage with dreadful fury until about 10 o’clock, when it began to subside… The trees in every part of the city [Savannah] were prostrated. The chimneys of a great many houses were blown down, and several houses themselves.”

September 1824: “It would seem that such has been the destruction of bridges, and so blocked up are the roads by the falling of trees, occasioned by the late equinoctial gale, that all communication between Charleston and Savannah, by land, is cut off… Some particulars of the violence of the gale, and the damage sustained has been furnished by a Savannah pilot. He states that it was more severe and destructive, than had been known there for 50 years past… In the city [Savannah], several houses were blown down, others unroofed; all the trees blown down…”

September 1854: “As we go to press with our Evening Edition [the September 9 edition of the Savannah Republican], a terrific hurricane, exceeding in violence and the amount of property destroyed anything we have ever witnessed, is sweeping over Savannah… It is appalling to look out upon the streets and listen to the rushing, roaring wind, bearing limbs of trees, pieces of slate and tin and boards, upon its mighty wings, as if they were lighter than chaff… The streets are filled with prostrate trees and branches, and the whole face of the ground is covered with leaves and vegetable matter.”

August 1893: “…the city [Savannah] was swept Monday [August 28] by one of the severest storms it has ever known. The storm began Monday afternoon and continued until the climax was reached at midnight. A terrific hurricane raged for eight hours… All the wharves along the river front were underwater… A view of the city at daylight revealed a scene of wreck and ruin that surpassed that following the great hurricane of 1881 [Hurricane #5 in 1881 was a Category 2 storm at landfall].”

“The full force of the storm stuck Tybee Island, the port of Savannah and the mouth of the Savannah River… The streets [in Savannah] are impassable from the debris. Fallen trees, twisted roofs, masses of brick, fences, and broken timbers and branches of trees are piled across the sidewalks and in the square, and broken wires are swinging in every direction.”

October 1898: “For fifteen hours, from 3 o’clock this morning [October 2] until 6 o’clock tonight [October 2], Savannah has been in the grasp of a West Indian storm… For miles in every direction around Savannah the lowlands along the rivers are submerged… For eight miles north of Savannah the entire country is a lake with only the hemlocks visible. At noon the water was eight feet above the highest tide. Driven onshore by the northeast storm [northeast winds], it filled up on the islands, swept over banks and dams, carrying away the remnant of the rice crop that was left by the August storm and had not been gathered, and wiping out farm crops… At Thunderbolt and Isle of Hope, suburbs of Savannah, all the boathouses on the banks and hundreds of small boats were carried away.”

“A Brunswick, GA, special to the Morning News says that during the tropical hurricane of Sunday [October 2] a tidal wave was driven in from the sea and inundated, for an average depth of five feet, practically every business, house, and warehouse in the city.”

[dixiebreeze]

Very interesting post. Thank you.

[pup55]

http://recenter.tamu.edu/data/popmd/pm7520.htm

Since the Cat 4, Savannah has grown from a pretty significant city of 85,000 to a kind of sleepy tourist attraction type city of 290,000.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah%2C_GA#Economy

The population is about 60% african-american and about 30% live below the poverty level, so the potential is for a NOLA-like situation.

The locals seem to be aware of this, and the topography is quite different obviously, but trying to get the poor out of town while a hurricane is bearing down on them may still be an issue, if chaos happens. There's one interstate highway that runs away from the coast.

http://www.wsav.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSAV/MGArticle/SAV_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031784892224&path=!frontpag



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[Hybridstorm_November2001]

The reason of course is that you guys and gals are tucked in snug as a bug in a rug, down there with your inward curving coastline and all. I bet a lot of people in other parts of the US SE wish they had that kind of protection.