9.09.2015

Thursday, September 9, 1965: Hurricane Betsy


Hurricane Betsy, its awesome winds swelling to a top 150 miles per hour, slapped the southern tip of Louisiana on Thursday night and pushed on towards sprawling New Orleans and the plush Mississippi resort coast. The leading edge of the 500-mile-wide storm struck the Mississippi River Delta -- which juts south into the churning Gulf of Mexico -- just after dark. Grand Isle, 55 miles south of New Orleans, was struck by 75 mile an hour hurricane winds, as was Burrwood -- southernmost point in Louisiana.
     -- Associated Press, September 10: @

The tropical storm season, notable for billion dollar Hurricane Betsy, ended yesterday. There were four hurricanes and two tropical storms during the season that began June 1, but Betsy was the only hurricane to strike the United States. She took a heavier toll in damage than the San Francisco fire and the Alaska earthquake combined. Betsy's damages totaled $1,419,830, 429.
     -- United Press International, December 1: @

-- Tracking map from U.S. Weather Bureau preliminary report (September 15, 1965): @

* Summary (www.hurricanescience.org, University of Rhode Island): @
* Summary ("Encyclopedia of Hurricanes, Typhoons and Cyclones" (David Longshore, 2008): @
* "The thirty costliest mainland United States tropical cyclones, 1900-2013" (Hurricane Research Division, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration; dollars not adjusted for inflation): @
* "A Hurricane Called Betsy" (film from Office of Civil Defense, Department of Defense, 1966): @
* "The Hurricane Season of 1965" (U.S. Weather Bureau, March 1966): @

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