Hurricane Hazel
| Category 4 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS) | |
The Weston Golf Club was left submerged after the Humber River burst its banks during Hurricane Hazel in Toronto.
|
|
| Formed | October 5, 1954 |
|---|---|
| Dissipated | October 18, 1954 |
| (Extratropical after 18:00 UTC on October 15) | |
| Highest winds |
1-minute sustained: 130 mph (215 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | 938 mbar (hPa); 27.7 inHg |
| Fatalities | 591–1,191 total |
| Damage | $382 million (1954 USD) |
| Areas affected | Trinidad and Tobago, Lesser Antilles, Northern South America, Puerto Rico, Leeward Antilles, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Cuba, Turks and Caicos Islands, Bahamas, East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Canada |
| Part of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season | |
Hurricane Hazel was the deadliest and costliest hurricane of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm killed at least 400 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. As a result of the high death toll and the damage caused by Hazel, its name was retired from use for North Atlantic hurricanes.
In Haiti, Hazel destroyed 40% of the coffee trees and 50% of the cacao crop, affecting the economy for several years to come. The hurricane made landfall in the Carolinas, and destroyed most waterfront dwellings near its point of impact. From North Carolina, it traveled north along the Atlantic coast. Hazel affected Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York; it brought gusts near 160 km/h (100 mph) and caused $281 million (1954 USD) in damage. When it was over Pennsylvania, Hazel consolidated with a cold front, and turned northwest towards Canada. When it hit Ontario as an extratropical storm, rivers and streams in and around Toronto overflowed their banks, which caused severe flooding. As a result, many residential areas located in the local floodplains, such as the Raymore Drive area, were subsequently converted to parkland. In Canada alone, over C$135 million (2016: $1.2 billion) of damage was incurred.
...
Wikipedia