Date: September 1996
Location: North Carolina, Virginia
Deaths: 17";
hurricane_major_us[i++] = new Array("","Opal, 1995","","/modules/slideshow/hurricane_990913/images/990913_hurricane02a_opal1995.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "", "247", "360", "", "", "", "", "");
hurricane_major_us[i-1].body = "Hurricane Opal made landfall near Pensacola Beach, Fla. as a marginal Category 3. The storm caused extensive storm surge damage to the immediate coastal areas of the Florida panhandle. It was the first major hurricane to strike the Florida panhandle since 1975. After hitting Florida, Opal continued to move north to Atlanta, Ga. where it whipped the suburbs with 70 mph winds.
Date: September-October 1995
Location: Alabama, Georgia, Florida
Deaths: Nine";
hurricane_major_us[i++] = new Array("","Andrew, 1992","","/modules/slideshow/hurricane_990913/images/990913_hurricane03_andrew1992.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "", "250", "375", "", "", "", "", "");
hurricane_major_us[i-1].body = "Andrew was a small and ferocious Cape Verde hurricane that wrought unprecedented economic devastation along a path through the northwestern Bahamas, the southern Florida peninsula and south-central Louisiana. Damage in the United States is estimated to be near $25 billion, making Andrew the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history. The hurricane struck southern Dade County, Fla. especially hard, with violent winds and storm surges characteristic of a Category 4 hurricane.
In Dade County alone, Andrew caused 15 deaths and left up to 250,000 people temporarily homeless. An additional 25 lives were lost in Dade County from the indirect effects of the storm. The direct loss of life was considered remarkably low considering the destruction caused by the hurricane.
Date: August 1992
Location: Florida, Louisiana
Deaths: 40";
hurricane_major_us[i++] = new Array("","Hugo, 1989","","/modules/slideshow/hurricane_990913/images/990913_hurricane05_hugo1989.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "", "225", "375", "", "", "", "", "");
hurricane_major_us[i-1].body = "After battering Puerto Rico, Hugo, a Category 4 storm, wandered northward, regained strength and crashed into the South Carolina coast with 150 mph winds. After hitting Charleston, the storm rolled on to North Carolina. Thousands were left without homes, food and electricity for weeks. The hurricane then degenerated into a heavy rainstorm that soaked the mid-Atlantic states and the Northeast.
Date: September 1989
Location: North Carolina, South Carolina
Deaths: 60";
hurricane_major_us[i++] = new Array("","Elena, 1985","","/modules/slideshow/hurricane_990913/images/990913_hurricane06_elena1985.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "", "225", "375", "", "", "", "", "");
hurricane_major_us[i-1].body = "More than 300,000 residents from low-lying coastal areas along the Gulf Coast fled Hurricane Elena, the largest peacetime evacuation in U.S. history. The Category 3 storm killed four, destroyed more than 250 homes and damaged thousands of others along the Gulf Coast. Damage estimates were put at $1.3 billion.
Date: August-September 1985
Location: Florida to Louisiana
Deaths: Four";
hurricane_major_us[i++] = new Array("","Frederic, 1979","","/modules/slideshow/hurricane_990913/images/990913_hurricane06a_frederick1979.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "", "237", "360", "", "", "", "", "");
hurricane_major_us[i-1].body = "Hurricane Frederic, a Category 3 hurricane, ripped through Alabama and Mississippi killing seven people. The storm caused more than $2 billion dollars in damage making it the fifth most costly storm in the United States.
Date: 1979
Location: Alabama, Mississippi
Deaths: Seven";
hurricane_major_us[i++] = new Array("","Agnes, 1972","","/modules/slideshow/hurricane_990913/images/990913_hurricane07_agnes1972.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "", "250", "375", "", "", "", "", "");
hurricane_major_us[i-1].body = "Agnes began as a tropical depression off Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and became a tropical storm on June 16, 1972. Three days later, Hurricane Agnes made landfall along the Florida panhandle. It roared through Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina before moving into the Atlantic on June 21. The Category 1 storm strengthened and returned the next day, striking New York and then Pennsylvania, which suffered the most, with $2.1 billion in damages and 48 deaths.
Date: June 1972
Location: Eastern seaboard, Pennsylvania
Deaths: 117";
hurricane_major_us[i++] = new Array("","Camille, 1969","","/modules/slideshow/hurricane_990913/images/990913_hurricane08_camille1969.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "", "250", "355", "", "", "", "", "");
hurricane_major_us[i-1].body = "Hurricane Camille is often regarded as one of the most powerful 20th century hurricanes. The Category 5 storm became a hurricane south of Cuba, moving northward into the Gulf of Mexico and quickly gaining strength. When the storm hit the Mississippi-Alabama coast, winds were gusting to 200 mph. Along the Gulf Coast, 143 people died. As the storm weakened and continued northward, another 113 died from floods and landslides.
Date: August 1969
Location: Mississippi, Alabama
Deaths: 256";
hurricane_major_us[i++] = new Array("","Galveston, TX — 1900","","/modules/slideshow/hurricane_990913/images/990913_hurricane09_galveston1900.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "", "190", "375", "", "", "", "", "");
hurricane_major_us[i-1].body = "The Category 4 storm, the deadliest in United States history, killed at least 7,200 people. Some estimates of the death toll range as high as 10,000. On Sept. 8, 1900, virtually the entire Galveston island was underwater.
The killer storm had moved west from Cuba, past the tip of Florida and strengthened as it churned through the Gulf of Mexico. The hurricane hit Galveston late afternoon on Saturday and didn't subside until after midnight. Winds of up to 130 miles per hour and a storm wave said to be \"nearly five feet high\" demolished two-thirds of the homes in the city and half the businesses. By Sunday morning, the city was littered with corpses. Fearing an outbreak of plague, martial law was declared and the bodies were taken out to sea for a mass burial.
Date: Sept. 8-9, 1900
Location: Galveston, Texas
Deaths: 7,200 — 10,000";
// END editorial data