Storms of 1969

Anna | Blanche | Camille | Debbie | Gerda | Kara

The path of Anna was a rather classical one, beginning near the African coast, passing within 240 kilometres of Cape Hatteras, and finally moving into the North Atlantic and joining a vigorous extratropical low pressure system north of the Azores. Anna probably reached storm intensity on the July 17, and may have obtained its maximum intensity during the next 24 hours. When Anna first reached tropical storm intensity, conditions appeared favorable for deepening to hurricane intensity. Instead, the development of a large middle and upper level cyclone between Puerto Rico and Bermuda produced an extremely hostile environment that Anna had to traverse for an extended period. The result was a gradual weakening and contraction in size, with a turn to a more northwesterly track. After finally escaping from the upper level cold system, Anna began to regain intensity as it approached the Hatteras area.

The season’s first hurricane spent its entire life at sea, but maintained hurricane intensity for only about 24 hours. Blanche, as a tropical disturbance, can be traced back to about 2100 kilometres east of the Lesser Antilles. Beginning on August 6, the disturbance moved west-northwestward as a tropical wave. As the crest of the wave rounded the western end of the Bermuda High, a circulation formed about 800 kilometres east of Florida on August 10. The depression accelerated northward. By the 11^th, Blanche was upgraded to a tropical storm and by early evening it had reached hurricane strength. The hurricane passed just to the northwest of Sable Island and skirted Cape Race, Newfoundland, on the 12^th. Although Sable Island experienced winds of 83 kilometres per hour (45 knots) with gusts to 111 kilometres per hour (60 knots), no strong winds were observed at any of the stations in the Maritimes. The hurricane filled rapidly as it passed Newfoundland and became absorbed into a frontal zone on the 13^th.

Camille formed near the island of Grand Cayman in the Caribbean on August 14 from a tropical wave that had been tracked from the African coast where it emerged on August 5. It was apparent almost from the outset that Camille would be an explosively deepening storm; and as it approached the western tip of Cuba on the afternoon of the 15^th, the central pressure had fallen to 964 millibars with a maximum wind of 185 kilometres per hour (100 knots). Southeast winds of 148 kilometres per hour (80 knots) were reported at Guane as the eye passed over western Cuba.

Camille continued along a north-northwestward course. On the afternoon of August 17, the hurricane was less than 160 kilometres from the mouth of the Mississippi River. Camille was established as a storm of record-breaking proportions. The centre of the hurricane passed over the Mississippi coast near the towns of Clermont Harbour, Waveland, and Bay St. Louis at about 11:30 PM on August 17. Maximum winds near the coastline could not be measured, but it is estimated that they probably reached 324 kilometres per hour (175 knots). The highest recorded storm tide observed was measured at 7.5 metres. Along the Mississippi coastline from Pass Christian to Biloxi, few houses or other structures remained in tact. Houses had been swept completely off their foundations and splintered into unrecognizable small pieces, characteristic of the wind damage ordinarily associated with major tornadoes.

As Camille continued inward on a northerly course, surface winds weakened and the wind damage north of Jackson, Mississippi, was not extensive. In northern Mississippi and western Tennessee, rains from Camille broke a severe drought, and the storm’s visit was largely beneficial. As the remnants of Camille turned eastward across Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia, it was a different story. Torrential local rains developed in mountainous areas along the eastern slopes of the Alleghenies, and a series of disastrous flash floods engulfed many areas.

Camille passed into the open Atlantic on August 21, where it quickly regained tropical storm intensity. However, shortly thereafter it encountered a cold front and was modified rapidly into an extratropical system.

Total damages in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Virginia, and West Virginia were estimated at $1,420,750,000.

A large mass of clouds off the African coast developed into a depression on August 14 and Hurricane Debbie on August 15. Debbie was of hurricane force for 9 days while traveling over 4800 kilometres from the south-central Atlantic. Debbie reached its greatest strength on the 20^th, then turned toward the north-northeast on the 21^st, and after passing Newfoundland lost force rapidly over the extremely cold waters and died east of Greenland.

Hurricane Camille’s circulation was still strong at upper levels as it moved off the mid-Atlantic coast on the 20^th and passed north of Debbie on the 21^st and 22^nd. Without the presence of Camille, Debbie most likely would have passed close to Bermuda and probably would have made landfall in Newfoundland.

Hurricane Gerda had a comparatively short life for an early September hurricane. However, prior to development into a depression, the disturbance that probably generated the tropical cyclone can be traced across the Atlantic from the interior of northwestern Africa.

On September 3, 1969, the disturbance merged with a degenerating mid-tropospheric cyclone to the north of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. A larger cloud mass developed and continued toward the west-northwest until there were indication of a surface circulation forming in the western Bahamas on the 5^th. The weak tropical depression moved into southeastern Florida on the 6^th, then drifted very slowly northward before emerging into the Atlantic near Cape Kennedy on the afternoon of the 7^th. Thereafter, a northeasterly course with a steady fall in pressure began and Gerda reached hurricane intensity on the 8^th. The hurricane proceeded on a northeast to north-northeast course within a 160 kilometres off the United States east coast. Gerda moved inland over the extreme eastern tip of Maine by late afternoon and evening of September 9.

Damage was minimal and confined mainly to marinas, downed trees, high power lines, and to highways from the Cape Cod area to eastern Maine.

During the early days of development, Kara was imbedded in a cold trough extending from the southwest Caribbean north-northeastward through Cuba into the southwest Atlantic. Despite reaching tropical storm intensity, Kara did not form a well-defined eye. Kara’s movement appeared to be governed by an upper cold low, and this resulted in it having an unusual track. The first threat was to the eastern seaboard from the Carolinas to New England, then Florida, and finally the shipping lanes as it accelerated over the North Atlantic.

Kara reached tropical storm intensity on October 9, while moving toward the northeast. The next day, Kara was located 800 kilometres east of Daytona Beach. Kara then appeared to accelerate north-northwestward; and by the following day it had merged with a closed upper low that had formed off of Cape Hatteras. The storm then moved southward, however, this movement toward the south and southwest ended when the upper westerlies dipped to the south and eroded a ridge to the northwest of Kara. Kara first developed an eye when it was located about 480 kilometres south of Cape Hatteras on the morning of the 14^th. It was only after the storm had begun its northeastward acceleration away from land that it reached hurricane strength. Kara lost intensity rapidly as it encountered a cold trough over the northeast Atlantic.