";s:4:"text";s:5916:"Description: This map created by FCIT shows the track of hurricane David in 1979. Isaias made landfall in North Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane around 11 p.m. Monday, lashing the coastline and leaving a trail of damage in its wake. While such storms lose strength as they pass over land, they can still pack a punch.Hurricane Charley, which made landfall in southwest Florida as a Category 4 storm in 2004, maintained Category 1 strength and caused significant damage further inland through the Orlando area and even until it moved off Florida’s east coast near Daytona Beach.Even hurricanes that remain on the west side of Florida can have significant impacts on the Atlantic coast. But hours before moving closer to the islands the hurricane shifted and and headed for Dominica.
[Page A20. In 1979, Hurricane David moved alongside a large section of the east-central Florida coast while at Category 2 strength, packing winds of 100 mph. The coast angles toward the north-northeast from Key Largo to Palm Beach, but then toward the north-northwest from Palm Beach to Jacksonville.As a result, any hurricane approaching the northeast Florida coast needs to be moving northwest or west in order to make a direct hit.
Winds gusted to 50 miles an hour.As the hurricane moved over land, lost much of its power, and officials estimated that its winds would be no more than 50 miles an hour by the time reached Columbia, a city of 100,000 about 100 miles northwest of here.Hurricane David had gathered strength as it swept up the coast from Florida today, but it never recovered all the power that it showed when it battered the central Florida coast yesterday after a trek through the Caribbean that left about 1,000 dead. ]Along some parts of the Georgia and South Carolina coasts, where waves were already running six to eight feet above normal, the storm sent another six‐foot surge, and forecasters warned of flooding in low‐lying areas.Hurricane warnings were posted from Brunswick, Ga., to Cape Fear, N.C., and gale and small‐craft warnings extended as far north as Norfolk, Va.Here in Charleston, huge waves broke over the High Battery wall at 7:15 P.M., flooding East Bay Street and sending roiling water onto the lawns and up to the porches of the area's old and stately homes. About 18,000 people live on the islands.The authorities reported difficulty in persuading some inhabitants to leave, and on Tybee Island, the first hit by the strorm, only about 500 of the 3,000 inhabitants had left, according to the Civil Defefense director.At the 70‐year‐old lighthouse on the island, abandoned yesterday by the Coast Guard, five men and a woman holed up this afternoon with beer and sandwiches, determined to stay. CHARLESTON, S.C., Sept. 4 — Hurricane David smashed into the GeorgiaSouth Carolina coast this afternoon, then headed inland toward the capital city of Columbia, S.C., after lashing Savannah,1 Ga., and the barrier islands near the two states’ border with winds of 70 to 90 miles, an hour.There were no immediate reports of injuries as the hurricane hit the mainland for the second time in two days, but the huge, slow‐moving storm reportedly caused widespread damage during a twohour swipe at Savannah, a colonial city of 120,000 people about 100 miles south of here.By midnight, the hurricane had moved to about 40 miles west of here and was shifing its course to the northeast, raising the possibility that it might move out to sea again.Downtown Savannah's historic streets were impassable, choked with the remains of stately trees and other debris. Hurricane wind gusts were experienced as far inland as Choctaw County, AL during the early morning hours of September 13.
Matthew weakened from Category 3 strength east of Vero Beach to Category 2 strength east of Jacksonville.As with David, Matthew’s strongest winds were on its offshore (right-hand) side. The legend shows the different categories of hurricanes as follows: Cat 5 (dark red), Cat 4 (red), Cat 3 (orange), Cat 2 (yellow), Cat 1 (green), tropical storm (teal), tropical depression (blue), and lower category (purple). It's coming in on tank cars, so we'll have drinking water and water to run our boilers.”Firefighters were also hindered by low water pressure as they tried to put out blazes started by sparks from downed Dower lines.The hurricane struck the Savannah area shortly before 8 P.M. and stayed over the city for about two hours before moving north toward Columbia, about 120 miles away, at 10 miles an hour.As the hurricane swept ashore, it flooded the James F. Byrne Causeway to Hilton Head, S.C., a lush resort about 30 miles north of Savannah, where a number of vacationers had reportedly ignored evacuation orders.The path of the hurricane spared this coastal city of 120,000 serious damage, but the storm flooded low‐lying areas and knocked out power in much of the city. There, at least one house was thrown wholly into the sea and the police chief, Wally Benson, reported other extensive wind and water damage.Five‐foot sea walls, some recently built to stop already advancing erosion, were battered down and large areas of beach swept away.Butane and fuel oil tanks ripped from houses lay in the street along with downed power lines felled by winds of about 60 miles an hour.Panic buying stripped grocery shelves all along the coast. And 40 years ago today Hurricane David, a Category 5 hurricane and one of the deadliest of the latter half of the 20th century, roared towards the island.