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624
MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW
September, 19(
the southeast with increasing velocity, the tctal movement for the hour being 39 miles with a five-minute maximum at thr rate of 46 miles per hour. From 4 until 5:20 p. m., the wind veered toward the southeast after which it remained steady from the southeast until 10:4o p. in., when it veered to the south. The wind velocity increased as the wind settled into the southeast, with an hourly movement from 4 to 5 p. m. of 45 miles, and for a five minute period it was at the rate of 58 miles per hour; from 5 to 6 p. m the hourly movement was 49 miles and the maximum for five minutes was at the rate of 62 miles per,hour; from 6 to 7 p. in., the hourly movement was 55 miles and the maximum for five minutes was at the rate of 56 miles, this being 6 miles greater than the highest wind previously recorded at New Orleans. After 7 p. m the wind subsided slowly, but storin velocities occurred at intervals until about midnight. The wind was freaky, blowing at all times during the day in sudden powerful gusts or blasts limited to narrow areas and requiring but a few seconds of time in passing a given place. These sudden gusts or blasts were of much greater velocity than the highest Sve-minute record. Low, heavy clouds, from which rain fell incessantly, moved rapidly from the northeast during • the forenoon and from the east and southeast during the afternoon. The rainfall was heaviest from 12 noon to 1 p. m., when 1 inch fell, there being no other hour during the day with one-third that amount,
September 21 was clear and pleasant, with light wind from the south.
EFFECTS OF THE HUIUUCANE.
The center of the hurricane moved inland between the mcuth of the Mississippi and the Atchafal&ya rivers, as forecast by the Weather Bureau. The wind at Morgan City backed from the northwest, by the west, to the south, while at New Orleans it veered from the northeast, by the east, to the south. The center of the disturbance moved northward over eastern Louisiana, passing about halfway between New Orleans and Morgan City. Excessively high tides occurred in the eastern segment of the hurricane, flooding all the lowlands or. the middle Gulf coast to a depth ranging from 2 to 10 feet. At New Orleans the back water in the river, as a result of the storm tide, was 4 feet on the afternoon of the 20th. The storm winds carried the water from the. Gulf of Mexico northward, east of the Mississippi River over Breton Sound, eastern Plaquemines, St. Bernard, and Orleans parishes into Lake Pontchartrain, giving the highest tide water ever known in those sections. Reports from the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain indicate that the tide had risen 4 feet up to 7 p. m. on the 20th, when it remained stationary for nearly an hour. From 8 to 10 p. m. there was a storm wave of 3 feet, making a total tide in that section of 7 feet. The water commenced receding about midnight. A break in the protection levee on Bayou St. John near the Dumair.e Street Bridge allowed the water from Lake Pontchartrain to flow through and flood a large area, in the western portion of New Orleans, to a depth ranging from 1 to 2 feet. The- highest storm tide occurred between the mouth of the Mississippi River and the Mississippi Sound, about 50 miles eas: of the stc.rrn center. The occurrence of the highest tide in this part of the storm and so far from the center was. nc doubt, due to the tact that the storm was moving northwest until it reached +he Louisiana coast, and then curved more to the ncrthwaru im ports from Grand Isle, which was near the center of the stenn. indicate a tide of about 4 feet in that section as the highest water on that, island was but 2 feet From the Atchafabva River westward, the northerly winds held the tides down: however, the winds were high and dangerous as far west as Galveston, Tex.
Much damage resulted from the storm along the nvddle Guif coast, and for some distance inland. At Now Orleans five persons were killed either by falling chimney# or coming in contact with live wires broken .ku/.ne wind, and *.he proper
damage is estimated at about SI ,000.000. the greater part ( which was along the river front, mainly from the sinking < barges loaded with coal. Small craft were torn from the moorings in harbors and suffered much damage.
More than half the coal fleet along the Mississippi River we sunk. The railroads suffered severe damage. The Louisville an Nashville Railroad lest 25 imies of track, and the bridges i Rigolets and at Bay St. Louis were partly destroyed. Tl: Illinois Central Railroad lest 8 miles of double track an several bridges. Other roads suffered to some extent, but n leports cf the extent of their damage has been received. Teh phone and telegraph wires in all directions were p rostra let there being but one wire left in operation out of New Orleans, telephone line to Hattiesburg, Miss. The wireless towers we; all blown down. The Western Union Telegraph Compan opened a wire by the way of Dallas, Tex., on the 22d and th was followed by other wires on the 23d and 24th, and on tl 25th a good telegraph service was restored. The damap suffered by the railroad, telegraph, and telephone compani* will probably exceed SI ,000,000. Many towns for snm.c di: tances inland suffered heavy damage. Agricultural interests i Louisiana suffered less than was at first anticipated, and tl damage to crops will probably not far exceed Si .000.000. Tl total damage in Louisiana and Mississippi is estimated at aboi So.000,000. Nearly 200 persons are known to have perished i Terrebonne Parish and about 50 deaths occurred as a result ( the storm in ether portions of Louisiana and Mississippi. Tl: exact loss cf life will never be known, but a conservative est mate places the total number of deaths at about 350. Near! 4,000 people were rendered homeless, the bulk of these being i Terrebonne Parish. The coast region of Terrebonne Parish cut up by numerous bayous, and 2,000 or 3,000 fishermen li\ along these sluggish streams. Houma is the nearest telephor exchange, and people living several miles south of that place ai without rapid means of communication and-rould not I reached by warnings. 2s110	^	/
When it is taken into consideration that dangerous wine occurred from Tampa, Fla., on the east to Galveston. Tex., c the west, over a long stretch of low coast, and at New Orleai the wind velocity exceeded all previous storms the small loss i life is phenomenal when compared with that, resulting froi previous storms in ttiis section. It is a notable fact that, no lo: of life resulted from drowning in the neighborhood of thestorn warning display stations of the Weather Bureau, which estai iishes the fact that, the warnings were effectual in the saving < life. Four-fifths of the deaths that resulted from the ston occurred in a portion of Terrebonne Parish that could not t reached with the warnings, and many of the remaining numb< resulted indirectly from the storm in a maimer that no wan lags could have prevented their occurrence. Under t he guidant of the warnings of the Weather Bureau, all of the small era that, could be reached had sought harbors and prepared \ weather the storm. The coal fleet anchored along the banks i the Mississippi kept up steam commencing Saturday night ar they were advised Sunday, in conversation over the telephon to keep in readiness for the storm. About half the fleet wj sank, but the remaining half was saved as a direct result of tl action taken on the advice of the Bureau. No loss of li occurred on the high seas, because all the craft not stroi enough to weather severe storms heeded the. warnings and r mamed m port. The only casualty reported was that of tl steamer L'tstein, which was stranded in 7 feet of water just we of tin Shi;: Slu::d lighthouse. The I Idem was hound fro Spanish Honduras for New Orleans with a cargo of fruit. Noi of the crew was lost. There was some loss of life on small era that had sought refuge in the bays anil bayous, but the people had sought what they deemed safe harbors. It is n possible to estimate to what extent lives and property we saved as a result of the warnings, but judging irom action taki
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