";s:4:"text";s:4300:"Around Biloxi, coastal casinos and the shipyards experienced little from the storm. Hurricane Georges: Storm Surge-Mississippi, Alabama, Florida (174 MB PDF). A banding eye developed, and Georges reached major hurricane strength on In the days prior to the hurricane's arrival, thousands of citizens in Due to initial forecasts of the hurricane brushing the northern portion of the country, the Prior to making landfall, more than 200,000 people were evacuated from coastal areas in eastern A long-lasting hurricane, Hurricane Georges brought torrential rainfall and mudslides along much of its path through the After passing through Antigua, Georges produced strong winds of up to 115 In other nearby islands, Georges's impact was relatively minor. Georges was the seventh tropical storm, fourth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the 1998 Atlantic hurricane season. Strong winds knocked down power lines, leaving 200,000 without power in the Georges's strong storm surge caused extensive beach erosion and flooding on the Upon making landfall, Hurricane Georges brought a storm surge peaking at 8.9 feet (2.4 m) in Upon making landfall, Hurricane Georges brought a storm surge of up to 8.9 feet (2.7 m) in Beach erosion occurred along the coastline, resulting in some property damage on beach houses. The following summarizes the most significant areas affected, starting with Upper Matecumbe and continuing westward. As it moved slowly through the northern The name Georges was retired in the spring of 1999 and will never again be used in the Georges greatly affected the 1998 college football season. Already, the affected areas are getting on with the massive job of reconstruction. According to the US National Hurricane Centre the storm was between Category 2 and Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale at the time it hit St Kitts. Around Biloxi, coastal casinos and the shipyards experienced little from the storm. One shelter in Upon making landfall, Georges brought a strong storm surge peaking at 11.9 feet (3.6 m) in Overall, damage in Alabama amounted to $125 million (1998 USD, $145 million 2005 USD). After a severe drought in 1997, extreme rainfall damaged around 470,000 acres (190,202 ha) of food crops, including various types of vegetables, fruits, and roots — some of the country's main diet food. A banding eye developed, and Georges reached major hurricane strength on September 19 while 675 Late on September 18, a hurricane watch was issued for In the days prior to the hurricane's arrival, thousands of citizens in the Due to initial forecasts of the hurricane brushing the northern portion of the country, the Prior to making landfall, more than 200,000 people were evacuated from coastal areas in eastern A large and long-lasting hurricane, Hurricane Georges brought torrential rainfall and mudslides along much of its path through the The weakening hurricane spared the island as it passed 25 miles (40 km) to the north, causing moderate damage (houses and roofs, uprooted trees, power lines and outages, beach erosion) especially in After passing through Antigua, Georges produced strong winds of up to 115 mph (185 km/h) while passing over Damage in St. Kitts totaled EC$1.2 billion (US$458 million).No major damage was reported to public buildings in the As Georges moved through the northern end of the Lesser Antilles, it produced significant rainfall and strong winds over the United States Virgin Islands. On September 21, Georges made landfall directly on Antigua and St. Kitts, though its wide windfield affected many other islands. Georges's winds downed power lines, leaving 230,000 without power after the storm. This heavy rainfall resulted in mudslides and flooding, killing a total of 589 people across the island and leaving more than 350.000 homeless.Most impacted by Hurricane Georges was the agricultural industry. Freshwater flooding in Mobile resulted in one death, the only death in the United States.Upon making landfall, Hurricane Georges produced a storm surge of up to 10 feet (3 m), with higher waves on top of it.