1947 Fort Lauderdale Hurricane

Storm path
Duration	Sept. 4 - 21, 1947
Highest winds	160 mph (260 km/h) sustained
Damages	$930 million (2000 USD) [1]
Fatalities	51 direct
Areas affected	Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi
Part of the 1947 Atlantic hurricane season

The Fort Lauderdale Hurricane (or Pompano Beach Hurricane or Forgotten Hurricane) was an intense category 5 hurricane that affected Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi in September of 1947. It killed 51 people and caused USD $110 million (1947 USD) in damage. Jump to: navigation, search Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x633, 403 KB) Summary 1947 Fort Lauderdale hurricane track. ... Jump to: navigation, search September 4 is the 247th day of the year (248th in leap years). ... Jump to: navigation, search September 21 is the 264th day of the year (265th in leap years). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1947 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ... Jump to: navigation, search State nickname: Sunshine State Other U.S. States Capital Tallahassee Largest city Jacksonville Governor Jeb Bush (R) Senators Bill Nelson (D) Mel Martinez (R) Official languages English Area 170,451 km² (22nd)  - Land 137,374 km²  - Water 30,486 km² (17. ... Jump to: navigation, search State nickname: Pelican State Other U.S. States Capital Baton Rouge Largest city New Orleans Governor Kathleen Blanco (D) Senators Mary Landrieu (D) David Vitter (R) Official languages None; English and French de facto Area 134,382 km² (31st)  - Land 112,927 km²  - Water 21,455... Jump to: navigation, search State nickname: Magnolia State Other U.S. States Capital Jackson Largest city Jackson Governor Haley Barbour (R) Senators Thad Cochran (R) Trent Lott (R) Official languages English Area 125,546 km² (32nd)  - Land 121,606 km²  - Water 3,940 km² (3%) Population (2000)  - Population 2,697... The 1947 Atlantic hurricane season was an ongoing event in the annual cycle of tropical cyclone formation. ... Category 5 can refer to either: Category 5 cable used for carrying data Category 5 computer virus as classified by Symantec Corporation for the most severe threat level. ... This article is about weather phenomena. ... Jump to: navigation, search State nickname: Sunshine State Other U.S. States Capital Tallahassee Largest city Jacksonville Governor Jeb Bush (R) Senators Bill Nelson (D) Mel Martinez (R) Official languages English Area 170,451 km² (22nd)  - Land 137,374 km²  - Water 30,486 km² (17. ... Jump to: navigation, search State nickname: Pelican State Other U.S. States Capital Baton Rouge Largest city New Orleans Governor Kathleen Blanco (D) Senators Mary Landrieu (D) David Vitter (R) Official languages None; English and French de facto Area 134,382 km² (31st)  - Land 112,927 km²  - Water 21,455... Jump to: navigation, search State nickname: Magnolia State Other U.S. States Capital Jackson Largest city Jackson Governor Haley Barbour (R) Senators Thad Cochran (R) Trent Lott (R) Official languages English Area 125,546 km² (32nd)  - Land 121,606 km²  - Water 3,940 km² (3%) Population (2000)  - Population 2,697... September is the ninth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of four Gregorian months with 30 days. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1947 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ...

Formation

The hurricane was the fourth tropical system and the third hurricane to form in the Atlantic basin during the 1947 hurricane season. It formed as a Cape Verde-type hurricane and strengthened quickly off the coast of Africa. Hurricane analysis suggests it achieved tropical storm status on September 4, and became a hurricane about a day later. It traveled westward along the 15th parallel, then dipped southwestward before turning northwest, slowly but steadily strengthening as it did so. Unlike most intense hurricanes, it featured a slow, even rise in strength from Tropical Storm status to Category 5 strength with little fluctuation in intensity. It passed north of the Bahamas and then slowed down, turned west, and continued strengthening. The Atlantic Ocean is Earths second-largest ocean, covering approximately one_fifth of its surface. ... Jump to: navigation, search Hurricane Ivan, a category 5 Cape Verde-type hurricane A Cape Verde-type hurricane is a tropical cyclone that develops near the Cape Verde islands, off the west coast of Africa, and becomes a hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean. ... Jump to: navigation, search September 4 is the 247th day of the year (248th in leap years). ... This article is about weather phenomena. ...

By September 16 the hurricane peaked at Category 5 status north of Grand Bahama. The storm skirted over the northern portion of Abaco Island, where a weather station claimed a wind reading of 160 mph (260 km/h) (but note all such wind measurements are suspect). As the storm passed over the Gulf Stream, it lost some strength before landfall. Jump to: navigation, search September 16 is the 259th day of the year (260th in leap years). ... Category 5 can refer to either: Category 5 cable used for carrying data Category 5 computer virus as classified by Symantec Corporation for the most severe threat level. ... Grand Bahama is one of the northernmost of the islands of the Bahamas, lying just 55 mi (90 km) off the coast of Florida, USA. The island was claimed by Spain shortly after their discovery by Christopher Columbus in 1492, and its name in Spanish: Gran Bajamar - Great Shallows was... The Abaco islands lie in the northern Bahamas and comprise the main islands of Great Abaco and Little Abaco, together with the smaller Wood Cay, Green Turtle Cay, Great Guana Cay, Gorda Cay, Elbow Cay, Man-o-War Cay, Strangers Cay, Umbrella Cay, Walkers Cay and Mores Island. ... For the album by Ocean Colour Scene, see North Atlantic Drift (album) The Gulf Stream is orange and yellow in this representation of water temperatures of the Atlantic. ...

Impact on Southern Florida

The storm made landfall on September 17 near Fort Lauderdale, Florida as a minimal category 4 hurricane. Wind gusts of up to 155 mph, with sustained winds in excess of 120 mph, were reported from Hillsboro Lighthouse near Pompano Beach [2]; until Hurricane Andrew in 1992, this storm held the Florida record for the highest observed wind speed. The lowest pressure reading, however, was only 27.97 inHg (947 mbar) (modern estimates suggest the pressure at landfall was around 940 mbar). An 11 foot storm surge was reported along the coast. The hurricane was unusually large: some reports indicate hurricane-force winds may have extended 120 miles out from the eye center (from Cape Canaveral to Coral Gables). The storm proceeded due west across the peninsula, passing over Sanibel Island and out into the Gulf of Mexico. Jump to: navigation, search September 17 is the 260th day of the year (261st in leap years). ... Fort Lauderdale, known as the Venice of America, is a city located in Broward County, Florida. ... Jump to: navigation, search State nickname: Sunshine State Other U.S. States Capital Tallahassee Largest city Jacksonville Governor Jeb Bush (R) Senators Bill Nelson (D) Mel Martinez (R) Official languages English Area 170,451 km² (22nd)  - Land 137,374 km²  - Water 30,486 km² (17. ... The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale is a scale classifying hurricanes by the intensity of their sustained winds, developed in 1969 by civil engineer Herbert Saffir and National Hurricane Center director Bob Simpson. ... Pompano Beach at the Intracoastal Waterway, February 2004 Pompano Beach is a city located in Broward County, Florida, along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean just to the north of Fort Lauderdale. ... Jump to: navigation, search Hurricane Andrew was one of the most destructive and expensive hurricanes to hit the United States. ... Inches of mercury or inHg is a somewhat outdated unit for pressure. ... A millibar (mbar, also mb) is 1/1000th of a bar, a unit for measurement of pressure. ... Jump to: navigation, search Cape Canaveral from space, August 1991 Cape Canaveral is a strip of land in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of that states Atlantic coast. ... Coral Gables is a city located in Miami-Dade County, Florida, southwest of Miami. ... Sanibel Island is an island located on the Gulf coast of Florida, just offshore of Fort Myers, Florida. ... Gulf of Mexico. ...

At Lake Okeechobee a very large storm surge (approximately 20 feet) was reported along the south shore between Clewiston and Moore Haven, nearly overrunning the Herbert Hoover Dike that surrounded the lake. Unlike in the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane. the dike held and a much larger catastrophe was prevented. However this 1947 storm inspired a further strengthening of the dike in the 1960s. Lake Okeechobee, locally referred to as Lake O, The Big Lake, or simply The Lake is a freshwater lake in the U.S. state of Florida. ... Clewiston is a city located in Hendry County, Florida. ... Moore Haven is a city located in Glades County, Florida. ... The Herbert Hoover Dike is a dike around the waters of Lake Okeechobee in Florida. ... The Okeechobee Hurricane (or San Felipe Hurricane) was a deadly hurricane that struck Puerto Rico and southern Florida, United States, in September 1928. ... Jump to: navigation, search The 1960s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ...

The storm was also slow-moving (about 10 mph) and dropped a prodigious amount of rain over the area - records for single-month rainfall were set in many areas, some of which still stand today (others were broken in 1992 or 2004), and flooding was among the worst in southern Florida's history [3]. The storm killed 17 people in Florida.

Impact on the Gulf Coast

The hurricane weakened over Florida, then continued, likely as a category 1 storm, along a track very similar to that of Hurricane Andrew. It made landfall again in Louisiana, with hurricane force winds measured at 6am along the coast on 19 September, and in New Orleans two hours later. The eye of the hurricane passed directly over New Orleans, with gusts estimated at 125 miles per hour. Much of the city flooded, with two feet of water shutting down Moisant Airport, and six feet of water in parts of Jefferson Parish. The storm produced an estimated 100 million United States dollars worth of damage to the city. The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale is a scale classifying hurricanes by the intensity of their sustained winds, developed in 1969 by civil engineer Herbert Saffir and National Hurricane Center director Bob Simpson. ... Jump to: navigation, search Hurricane Andrew was one of the most destructive and expensive hurricanes to hit the United States. ... Jump to: navigation, search New Orleans (local pronunciations: , , or ) (French: La Nouvelle-Orléans, pronounced in standard French accent) is a major U.S. port city and the largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. ... Louis Armstrong - New Orleans International Airport (IATA: MSY, ICAO: KMSY), formerly Moisant Field, is located in Kenner, Louisiana and serves New Orleans, Louisiana. ... Location in the state of Louisiana Formed Seat Gretna Area  - Total  - Water 1,664 km² (642 mi²) 870 km² (336 mi²) 52. ... Jump to: navigation, search USD redirects here. ...

A 12 foot storm surge was reported along the western half of the Mississippi coastline, causing heavy damage in Bay St. Louis (which recieved a 15 foot storm surge), Gulfport, and Biloxi. Jump to: navigation, search Bay Saint Louis is a city located in Hancock County, Mississippi. ... Gulfport is the name of some places in the United States of America: Gulfport, Florida Gulfport, Mississippi This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Biloxi and Mississippi coast The city derived its name originally from the Biloxi, a native American tribe: Biloxi (Tribe) Biloxi is a city located in Harrison County, Mississippi. ...

Although weaker at its second landfall, the hydrology of this location makes it particularly vulnerable to hurricanes. 12 people were killed in Louisiana and 22 in Mississippi. Jump to: navigation, search Water covers 70% of the Earths surface. ...

The Forgotten Hurricane

Coming as it did shortly after the end of World War II and at the start of the Cold War, and striking an area that had recently been hit by other, even more destructive hurricanes, this hurricane was largely forgotten. Building codes and hurricane awareness had improved in Florida since the destructive hurricanes of the 1920s, limiting both damage and loss of life. Yet if this same storm were to hit today (the year 2003) it would probably do around $11.26 billion in damages [4]. Jump to: navigation, search World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atom bomb. ... Jump to: navigation, search For the generic term for a high-tension struggle between countries, see cold war (war). ... Jump to: navigation, search Sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or primarily in North America as the Roaring Twenties . In Europe it is sometimes refered to as the Golden Twenties. ...

Sources and external links

• NOAA: Gulf Coast hurricanes
• UNISYS tracks for 1947 storms
• "Hurricane City": Fort Lauderdale storms
• Pictures from Lake Okeechobee area after the storm