Storms of 1954

| Carol | Dolly | Edna | Hazel

Hurricane Carol formed near the northeastern Bahamas Islands. It then began an accelerating north-northeast movement and passed very near Cape Hatteras. It crashed across the New England states diminishing as it swept into Canada. Carol was a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

This was a very small hurricane that moved very rapidly northward and northeastward. By the afternoon of September 2, it was east of Nova Scotia and had reduced in force. It was quickly becoming extratropical. This hurricane remained at sea and no damage was reported.

Hurricane Edna formed in an easterly wave on the afternoon of September 6. The Bahamas were hit the first few days of the storm before it began to move northward on the 10^th, where its winds were felt on the North Carolina Capes. Thereafter, it moved rapidly northeastward and passed over Cape Cod on September 11, and moved into eastern Maine, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick that night, where it caused great damage and some loss of life.

In Canada, the most remembered hurricane was Hurricane Hazel in 1954 that re-intensified unexpectedly and rapidly, resulting in 81 deaths and over $100 million in damage in Southern Ontario. Most of the destruction was a result of flooding from over 200 millimetres of rain in less than 24 hours.

Hurricane Hazel developed at 12° North, 61.2° West on October 5, 1954. The hurricane passed near of the island of Grenada in the Windward Islands and into the Caribbean Sea. It continued on a west to northwest course until the night of October 9 when it curved northward. Here it reached its highest winds of 213 kilometres per hour (115 knots). In the 12 hours after Hazel struck the Carolina coast, it traveled with extreme speed on a north-northwest track. It passed through the western suburbs of Washington, D. C. and spun across Pennsylvania and New York into Ontario maintaining its intensity all the way. In the US, it is estimated that Hazel caused $1.5 billion in damages and killed 100 people. The Toronto weather office only issued a weather advisory about the storm so residents of Toronto carried on with their lives as usual. During the night of October 18, Hurricane Hazel pelted Toronto with rain and killed 81 people. On one street alone, Raymore Drive, 35 neighbours were drowned.

For more information check out: Environment Canada's Remembering the 50 Year Anniversary of Hurricane Hazel web site