Hurricane Felix (1995)

Hurricane Felix

Category 4 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS)
Hurricane Felix near peak intensity
Formed	August 8, 1995
Dissipated	August 25, 1995
(Extratropical after August 22)
Highest winds	1-minute sustained: 140 mph (220 km/h)
Lowest pressure	929 mbar (hPa); 27.43 inHg
Fatalities	9 direct
Damage	$3.63 million (1995 USD)
Areas affected	Puerto Rico, Bermuda, East Coast of the United States, and Atlantic Canada
Part of the 1995 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Felix caused severe beach erosion along the East Coast of the United States in August 1995. The seventh tropical cyclone, sixth named storm, and third hurricane of the 1995 Atlantic hurricane season, Felix developed from a tropical wave in the eastern Atlantic Ocean on August 8. Although initially a tropical depression, it strengthened into Tropical Storm Felix later that day. Further intensification was slow, with Felix reaching hurricane status on August 11. Under favorable conditions, Felix began to rapidly deepen while curving northwestward. Late on August 12, Felix peaked as a low-end Category 4 hurricane. However, it soon weakened rapidly to a Category 1 hurricane. Less than three days later, Felix passed only 75 mi (120 km) southeast of Bermuda. Although it also posed a threat to the East Coast of the United States, Felix curved northward and then east-northeastward while remaining offshore, thereby avoiding landfall. Felix briefly threatened Bermuda again, but weakened to a tropical storm and turned back to the northeast on August 20. It accelerated east-northeastward, and passed a short distance offshore of Newfoundland, where Felix transitioned into an extratropical storm on August 22.

Large waves in Puerto Rico caused minor coastal flooding in Cataño. Near-hurricane-force winds in Bermuda downed trees and power lines, which left 20,000 people without power. Rough surf on the island damaged a few boats and hotels. In addition, the passage of Felix postponed Bermuda's 1995 independence referendum. Large waves produced by the storm affected nearly the entire East Coast of the United States. In New York, two houses were washed away in The Hamptons, and two boats capsized in Maine. While passing southeast of Newfoundland, Felix produced moderate rainfall and large waves across the island, although damage was minimal. Overall, Felix caused nine deaths due to drowning along the coasts of Rhode Island, New Jersey, and North Carolina. The storm did approximately $2.5 million (1995 USD) in damage on Bermuda, while rough seas produced about $132,000 in losses along the United States coastline.