Hurricane Betsy

Hurricane Betsy was an intense, deadly and destructive tropical cyclone that brought widespread damage to areas of Florida, the Bahamas, and the central United States Gulf Coast in September 1965. The storm's erratic nature, coupled with its intensity and minimal preparation time contributed to making Betsy the first tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin to accrue at least $1 billion in damage. While the storm primarily affected areas of southern Florida and Louisiana, lesser effects were felt in the Bahamas and as far inland in the United States as the Ohio River Valley. Betsy began as a tropical depression north of French Guiana on August 27, and strengthened as it moved in a general northwesterly direction. After executing a slight anticyclonic loop north of the Bahamas, Betsy proceeded to move through areas of south Florida on September 8, causing extensive crop damage. After emerging into the Gulf of Mexico, the cyclone strengthened and reached its peak intensity equivalent to that of a Category 4 hurricane on September 10 before making its final landfall near Grand Isle, Louisiana, shortly thereafter. Once inland, Betsy was slow to weaken, and persisted for two more days before degenerating into an extratropical storm; these remnants lasted until September 13.

As a developing tropical cyclone, Betsy tracked over the northern Leeward Islands, producing moderate gusts and slight rainfall, though only minimal damage was reported. After tracking over open waters for several days, Betsy had significantly strengthened upon moving through the Bahamas. There, considerable damage occurred, particularly to crops on the archipelago's islands. For the island chain, Betsy was considered the worst hurricane since a tropical cyclone impacted the region in 1929. Widespread power outage and property damage ensued due to the storm's strong winds. Overall, damage on the Bahamas amounted to at least $14 million, and one fatality occurred. From there Betsy tracked westward and made landfall on southern Florida, where it was considered the worst tropical cyclone since a hurricane in 1926. Betsy's strong storm surge inundated large portions of the Florida Keys, flooding streets and causing widespread damage. The only route out of the Keys onto the mainland was cut off by the storm. In the state alone, Betsy caused $139 million in damage and five deaths.

Betsy's most severe impacts were felt in Louisiana, where it made landfall as a powerful Category 4 hurricane. The cyclone propelled damaging storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain, breaching levees in New Orleans and inundating several neighborhoods, most notably the lower Ninth Ward. Strong winds caused widespread power and telecommunications outages across the region. Further inland, effects wrought by Betsy were considerably weaker, though precipitation caused by the storm extended as far northeast as Pennsylvania. Rainfall was primarily beneficial in Arkansas, though localized flooding impacted rice and cotton crops. In Kentucky and Illinois, strong winds caused moderate property damage. By the time the remnants of Betsy moved into the northeastern United States, the storm's winds and rainfall had substantially lessened, and as such resulting wind damage was negligible while precipitation benefited crops. In total, the damage wrought by Betsy throughout its existence equated to roughly $1.43 billion, making it the costliest Atlantic hurricane at the time. In addition the hurricane caused 81 deaths, primarily in Louisiana. After the season, the United States Weather Bureau retired the name Betsy from their rotating lists of tropical cyclone names.

Meteorological history

Origins of Hurricane Betsy can be traced back to an area of disturbed weather southwest of Cape Verde that first identified via TIROS satellite imagery on August 23. Tracking westward, the tropical wave was intercepted by a United States Navy reconnaissance airplane early on August 27, which concluded that the disturbance had become a tropical cyclone of moderate intensity. Based on information from the flight, it was estimated that the system had organized into a tropical depression by 0000 UTC on August 27, east-southeast of Barbados.|group="nb" As Betsy approached the Windward Islands, it began to move in a more northwesterly direction, and was briefly located in the Caribbean Sea during the overnight hours of August 28 before re-emerging into the Atlantic Ocean the following day, after which Betsy was upgraded to tropical storm classification in post-analysis.

thumbnail|Betsy prior to being upgraded to hurricane intensity on August 29.|alt=Grayscale image of a tropical cyclone as viewed from space. Due to the position of the camera, the tropical cyclone is at center-right, with banding features visible. As a result of the camera angle, the limb of the Earth is clearly visible; outer space appears a uniform dark gray.

Upon moving to the northwest of the Leeward Islands, Betsy entered conditions favorable for marked development. An upper-level trough centered a short distance north of the tropical storm enhanced outflow conditions and speed divergence.|group="nb" and Weather Bureau indicated that the tropical storm had reached hurricane intensity by 0000 UTC on August 30, On September 2, Betsy began to quickly intensify, and after strengthening to a Category 3 hurricane-equivalent – a major hurricane on the modern-day Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale – the small hurricane attained Category 4 intensity and reached an initial peak intensity with winds of 140 mph (220 km/h) at 0000 UTC on September 4, while situated well north of the Turks and Caicos.

However, on September 5, a blocking ridge of high pressure situated over the Eastern United States forced Betsy to make a tight, clockwise loop and track in an unusual southwesterly path, redirecting it towards Florida and The Bahamas. After stalling for a third time over portions of the central Bahamas, the major hurricane resumed its prior westward track towards South Florida. Early on September 8, Betsy made landfall on Key Largo in extreme southeastern Florida with winds of 125 mph (205 km/h) and a minimum barometric pressure of 953 mbar (hPa; 28.15 inHg). Without much change in strength, the intense hurricane quickly traversed the Upper Keys and Florida Bay before emerging midday on September 8 into the Gulf of Mexico.

Situated in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico on September 8, During its trek through the gulf, Betsy accelerated to a maximum forward speed of 22 mph (35 km/h), a speed anomalously high for a tropical cyclone traversing the Gulf of Mexico. Once inland, Betsy quickly weakened,

Preparations

The Bahamas, Cuba, and Florida

thumb|300px|Surface weather analysis map of Betsy on September 9|alt=Contoured map of a tropical cyclone in a body of water. Contours denote isobars, and the location of the storm is marked with a tropical cyclone symbol.

At Cape Kennedy, NASA delayed the erection of an Atlas-Centaur rocket which was to be used to launch a craft towards the Moon as part of the Surveyor Program on September 2. Several other prepared rockets on the site's launch pads were readied for potential emergency scramble should the hurricane impact the area. Other American space personnel stationed in Grand Turk Island and Mayaguana began preparatory measures after the United States Air Force issued a No. 1 alert for the region. Personnel from a small outpost on Allan Cay were evacuated to Grand Bahama, despite indications at the time that Betsy would curve away from the Bahamas or the East Coast of the United States. At Brunswick, Georgia's Naval Air Station Glynco, 21 jet fighter-bombers were evacuated inland. On September 4, helicopters arrived at the Frying Pan Shoals Light to evacuate the lighthouse's operators due to the impending threat of a hurricane strike. In the Palm Beach area, a group composed of regional Red Cross disaster chairman Forest W. Dana and nearby town officials held a nearly nonstop radio vigil service. Red Cross volunteers in The Carolinas set up three district headquarters to prepare shelters, first aid programs, and communications. The United States Department of Agriculture prepared food supplies in the event of an emergency for the two states.

After Betsy stalled and assumed a southwesterly course towards southern Florida, precautionary measures ceased in the Carolinas but were initiated in Florida and The Bahamas. Mackey Airlines assisted in the evacuation of 227 residents of West End Island to Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach, Florida, over the course of three flights. Three additional Douglas DC-6 airliners from Mackey Airlines evacuated 240 people, primarily American tourists, from Nassau to Miami. Various commercial flights between the archipelago and Florida were cancelled due to the impending storm. In Florida, various relief agencies prepared 9,000 hot dogs, 8,000 hamburgers, and 6,000 servings of chicken, to be donated to local hospitals and charitable organizations. The United States Weather Bureau urged for the reopening of grocery stores and lumberyards which had been closed for Labor Day in order to increase availability of hurricane preparedness materials to potentially affected populations. In downtown Miami, a traffic coordination plan for the evacuation of vehicles and aquatic craft through the Brickell Avenue Bridge was set in place. Homestead Air Reserve Base went into Phase 2 of its hurricane preparedness plan, in which aircraft stationed at the base were serviced for potential evacuation to bases in Michigan and Indiana. Upon Betsy's recurvature southwestward toward the peninsula on September 7, the Weather Bureau strongly advised evacuation procedures between Fort Lauderdale and Key Largo. Various offices, businesses, and schools were closed in advance of the hurricane. Airlines cancelled service to Fort Lauderdale and Miami. was split into the present-day provinces of Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, and Sancti Spíritus in 1978.|group="nb" Cuban radio alerted residents along the country's northern coast, potentially threatened by the hurricane, to take the necessary precautions in the event of an emergency. As a result of Betsy executing a loop and beginning to tracking southwestward, these watches were never issued, however, the Weather Bureau advised extreme caution in several Bahamian islands, though once again no warnings were specified. Hurricane watches and gale warnings were also issued for surrounding islands at the same time. After leaving the Florida area, the first hurricane watch pertaining to the Central Gulf Coast of the United States occurred late on September 8, when the Weather Bureau office in New Orleans issued a hurricane watch for coastal areas from Matagorda Bay to the Mississippi River Delta. Upon completing its northwestward recurvature, hurricane emergency warnings were shifted eastward to include areas from the mouth of the Mississippi River Delta to Mobile, Alabama. Gale warnings were effected by this change, and as such were also extended to include areas west of Panama City, Florida. On September 9, hurricane warnings were once again extended eastward to Pensacola, Florida, while they were lowered for the Texas coast. These warnings remained in effect until September 10, by which time Betsy had weakened sufficiently enough not to warrant such warnings and watches.

Impact

thumb|275px|Rainfall totals in the United States|alt=Filled contoured map showing areas of North America; each contour represents a change of 3 in (75 mm) in precipitation totals.

The effects of Hurricane Betsy were of far-reaching and unprecedented severity. However, winds of such intensity were also reported in the Bahamas. For this reason, the tropical cyclone was nicknamed "Billion Dollar Betsy."

The Bahamas

During Betsy's initial approach of the Bahamian archipelago on September 2, strong surf and high swells were reported in the Southeastern islands, though no damage was reported. Stalling over the Bahamas for a period of time as it moved through the islands, several locations sustained the Betsy's effects for prolonged periods of time, despite the tropical cyclone's relatively small size. The last message received by the Miami Weather Bureau office from communication operators in Nassau during the storm was a report of winds and rough seas late on September 6. The strong winds downed power lines, and destroyed homes, while the heavy rainfall, having accumulated over several days, flooding city streets. Other streets were littered with coconuts, palm fronds, and other debris blown or felled by the strong winds. A strong storm surge estimated at swept into the Bay Street waterfront shopping district, inundating the renowned shopping area. The local police detachment, which had been holed up within a waterfront barracks, was forced to take refuge in a nearby high school due to the storm surge. Despite the severe effects, only one person died in the Nassau area after his ship was destroyed and capsized in Nassau Harbor; this would be the only fatality associated with Betsy in the Bahamas. Out of all the islands, the strongest winds were reported on Abaco Island, where areas were within Betsy's swath of hurricane-force winds for over 20 hours. In Green Turtle Cay, a station clocked winds of , well into Category 4 intensity on the modern-day Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale. Another station in Hope Town measured a peak wind gust of . The entirety of Hope Town was covered with sand to a depth of , and the local harbor club was extensively damaged. Other docks were either damaged or completely destroyed. Though there was relatively little rainfall, coastal flooding damaged many houses to a point beyond repair. In Marsh Harbour, a majority of homes were unroofed. Heavy crop and fruit tree losses were reported in Little and Northern Abaco, with damage enumerated at well over a million dollars. In the southern Berry Islands, which experienced hurricane-force winds for over 25 hours and the eye for 3 hours, all the islands suffered damage of some degree. Frazers Hog Cay had several houses badly damaged, one totally destroyed and the entire power distribution destroyed. Only Bird Cay, which had underground utilities, was able to restore electricity and water the next day. The harbor at Chub Cay was severely damaged. and would take months to repair.

Across the northern portion of Eleuthera Island, Betsy wrought considerable damage. Communications from the island's missile tracking center were lost, with the last transmitted message indicating winds of which subsequently destroyed an anemometer. A submarine communications cable connecting the missile tracking center to Cape Kennedy was cut by the strong wave action. In Tarpum Baya police station sustained heavy damage after being hit by storm surge. Other coastal installments and property were severely damaged by the waves. The Glass Window Bridge was also damaged by the storm surge. Elsewhere, vehicles were damaged by fallen debris kicked up by the strong winds associated with Betsy. One person was killed after being electrocuted by a fallen power line. The blackouts cut electric service to 80 percent of customers in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas. House trailers were smashed by flying debris in the same areas. Several roads were blocked by debris thrown by the wind. U.S. Highway 1 in Florida was cut off by fallen telephone poles, preventing land access from the mainland to the Florida Keys. Similarly, numerous portions of the Tamiami Trail were blocked by fallen trees. A person was killed after a prostrated tree fell, crushing the individual. Heavy agricultural losses resulted from the strong winds as well. Approximately 25 to 50 percent of Florida's citrus crop was damaged after being blown down by strong winds. In addition, 90 percent of Dade and Broward counties' avocado crop, Northerly winds well in advance of Betsy's landfall forced water from Florida Bay onto the Florida Keys, and the resulting damage was then further exacerbated when southerly winds during and after the hurricane's approach forced water from the Atlantic onto the isolated Keys. Storm surge was further exacerbated by (this writer remembers) high tide (cannot substantiate) and near full moon at the peak of the storm in the Miami area. This resident living one block north of the Miami city line remembers the waters of Biscayne Bay came within mm of entering his family's home on NE 88th Street perhaps 300 meters from the bay. Though storm surge was estimated to have peaked along the coast of North Key Largo at , a measurement of in Tavernier was the highest measured total. However, a high water mark of on a highway west of Sugarloaf Key indicated that such estimations in North Key Largo were valid. Roads were inundated, with water exceeding the first floor heights of some buildings. Water forced into the Miami River caused it to overflow its banks and spread inland for several city blocks in Miami. In the Miami area, Betsy caused the most severe seawater inundation since a major hurricane struck in 1926; A section of State Road A1A, which runs adjacent to Miami and the nearby beach, was blocked by sand dunes piled inland by the strong winds.

thumb|Severe damage to homes in Key West after Hurricane Betsy

Precipitation was localized, albeit heavy, in South Florida. Rainfall peaked at in Plantation Key on September 8. The weather station in Big Pine Key observed the second highest state rainfall total at . No damage was reported in association with the rainfall.

Louisiana

left|thumb|183x183px|This is the last radar image of Hurricane Betsy, taken by the New Orleans radar on September 10

Hurricane Betsy slammed into Grand Isle on the evening of September 9, 1965. winds and power failures were reported in New Orleans. The eye of the storm passed to the southwest of New Orleans on a northwesterly track. The northern and western eyewalls covered Southeast Louisiana and the New Orleans area from about 8 pm until 4 am the next morning. In Thibodaux winds of to were reported. The Baton Rouge weather bureau operated under auxiliary power, without telephone communication. Around 1 am, the worst of the wind and rain was over.

Betsy also drove a storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain, just north of New Orleans, and the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, a deep-water shipping channel to the east and south. Levees for the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet along Florida Avenue in the Lower Ninth Ward and on both sides of the Industrial Canal failed. The flood water reached the eaves of houses in some places and over some one story roofs in the Lower Ninth Ward. Some residents drowned in their attics trying to escape the rising waters.

thumb|Weather map of Hurricane Betsy shortly after landfall in Southeast Louisiana on September 10|225x225px

These levee breaches flooded parts of Gentilly, the Upper Ninth Ward, and the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans as well as Arabi and Chalmette in neighboring St. Bernard Parish.

On the morning of September 10, 1965, US Senator Russell Long called President Lyndon Johnson pleading for federal aid and for him to visit the city of New Orleans. During the phone call Long suggested that the gesture would help Long, US Representative Edwin Willis, and Johnson himself win re-election. Five hours later, Johnson arrived in the, promising New Orleans Mayor Vic Schiro federal aid.

It was ten days or more before the water level in New Orleans went down enough for people to return to their homes. It took even longer than that to restore their flooded houses to a livable condition. Those who did not have family or friends with dry homes had to sleep in the shelters at night and forage for supplies during the day, while waiting for the federal government to provide emergency relief in the form of trailers. In all, 164,000 homes were flooded at the second landfall.

Evidence suggests that cheap construction and poor maintenance of the structures led to the failure of the levees. However, popular rumor persists that they were intentionally breached, possibly as a means of salvaging the French Quarter and central business district.

Many of the barges that had been traveling on the Mississippi River were engulfed by the hurricane. One of the barges, MTC-602, contained 600 tons of deadly chlorine gas contained in cylinders. Chlorine gas, which was used frequently as a chemical weapon in World War I, is a powerful irritant that can inflict damage to the eyes, nose, throat and lungs, and (at high concentrations and prolonged exposure) cause death by asphyxiation. It was estimated that the amount of chlorine loaded on the barge was enough to kill 40,000 people. The barge had sunk near Baton Rouge, where an estimated 300,000 people lived. The residents in the harbor area were evacuated until the barge was recovered. President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered the Navy and Army Engineers to find and raise the barge. While it took months to locate and make the appropriate plans for raising the barge, the actual process of raising it took around two hours. The barge was reportedly recovered, without any problems, on November 12, 1965.

Mississippi

The storm produced rainfall, high tides, and strong winds in Mississippi. Near the border with Alabama, tides of were reported, while ranging as high as near the state line with Louisiana. Wind speeds also varied greatly throughout the state. In Pascagoula, winds between were recorded. By contrast, winds were in excess of in Bay St. Louis. Despite the winds, much of the property damage in the state was caused by tides along the Gulf Coast. Strong winds and heavy rainfall caused significant crop damage in Harrison, Hancock County, Mississippi, and Jackson County, Mississippi. Throughout the state, 25,000 people lost electricity and more than 22,641 disruptions to telephone service occurred. Overall, damage in the state of Mississippi totaled to $80 million (1965 USD).

Alabama

Though Betsy remained well south and west of Alabama throughout its existence, High tides peaking at in Mobile destroyed and damage some private piers and waterfront buildings.

Although rainfall occurred throughout Alabama, precipitation was more numerous in the northern part of the state after Betsy passed the region to the north as a weakening tropical cyclone. As a result, the spacecraft, which had been orbiting the Earth since August 1965, had its target splashdown zone shifted northward to an area of the Atlantic Ocean well east of Jacksonville, Florida, away from the storm's projected path. In Martinique, the precursor tropical depression caused marginal rainfall and light gusts, and no damage was reported. Throughout the rest of the Windward Islands, gusts peaked at 40 mph (65 km/h), As the hurricane was passing near the southeastern Bahamas, high swells were reported along the northern coast of Hispaniola, though no damage ensued.

Although the more significant effects of Hurricane Betsy in the United States were limited to coastal regions, areas further inland received rainfall and strong winds from the weakening tropical cyclone and its remnants, with precipitation extending inland as far northeast as Pennsylvania. In Port Arthur a station received just of rain, coupled with storm tides above mean sea level. Surrounding regions in northeastern Arkansas reported at least of rain. Betsy's remnants were estimated to have brought winds of throughout the state. Most of the stronger winds were in the northern quadrant of the weakening tropical cyclone as it progressed through Arkansas. However, the highest measured wind gusts were only clocked at in stations at Pine Bluff and Walnut. The strong winds tore down power lines, leaving hundreds of electricity customers without power for several days. However, regional electrical crews were able to restore most power by the night of September 11. The resulting damage, if any, was minimal, Hail and strong winds in Kentucky's Bluegrass region damaged tobacco fields and caused damage to 35 mobile homes and a number of other roofs. Strong wind in Montgomery County downed trees. In western Tennessee, moderate to heavy rains in conjunction with gusts as strong as were reported. Though much of the rainfall was beneficial to the region's agricultural sector, localized flooding was also reported. Winds estimated between blew down some cotton and corn crops. Other opened cotton bolls were damaged, while soybeans were blown down, making mechanical harvesting difficult.

Further north and east, the rains Betsy produced were mostly beneficial as the storm had substantially weakened by the time it had approached these regions. In West Virginia, the rains helped to saturate soils used for growing crops, benefiting crop production. From September 11–13, Betsy's rains were felt throughout Pennsylvania. Rainfall peaked at in the central and northeastern regions of the state. Further south, in Maryland and Delaware, the rains were also beneficial to arable land. Precipitation in the former peaked at in Bittinger, while precipitation in the latter peaked at .

Aftermath

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Hurricane Protection Program came into existence as a result of Betsy. The Corps built new levees for New Orleans that were both taller and made of stronger material, designed specifically to resist a fast-moving Category 3 hurricane like Betsy (Betsy was retroactively upgraded to a Category 4 at the time of its Louisiana landfall in 2019). The resulting levee improvements failed when Hurricane Katrina, a large, slow-moving, intense hurricane made landfall near New Orleans on August 29, 2005.

thumb|right|[[NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans sustained some damage, as did Saturn V test hardware]]

Retirement

Due to the storm's extent and severity of impacts, the name Betsy was retired following the season by the National Hurricane Center, and it will not be used again to name a tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin. Consequently, the name was replaced with Blanche for the 1969 season.

Hurricane Betsy in popular culture

In April 1969,
The song Georgia... Bush was recorded by artists DJ Drama and Lil Wayne and released along with the mixtape Dedication 2 on September 4, 2006. Produced by Vudu Spellz, the song described a first-person account of Hurricane Katrina and emasculated U.S. president George W. Bush, while also indicting institutional racism. Part of the song's lyrics – "Same shit happened back in Hurricane Betsy/ 1965" – makes direct reference to Hurricane Betsy, implying that the government intentionally destroyed levees such that the Lower Ninth Ward would be flooding and thus protecting more expensive lakefront property.
Written by Rachelle Burk and illustrated by Rex Schneider, the children's novel Tree House in a Storm is a fictional telling of two child siblings whose tree house, having long served as a safe haven, is destroyed by Hurricane Betsy.
In the television series Flipper, Hurricane Betsy is referenced in the opening of the 10th episode of the second season (S02E10), titled "Dolphin Patrol," which aired on November 19, 1965, approximately two months after the hurricane dissipated. The episode begins with footage of ships in rough seas, accompanied by a narrator describing the storm’s impact: "Hurricane Betsy roared through southern Florida, leaving in her wake a tragic aftermath of destruction. The furious winds, without regard for life or property, tossed boats and automobiles as though they were matchsticks." The narration highlights Florida’s resilience and cleanup efforts before transitioning to the episode’s plot, which involves rescue operations and storm-related challenges at the park.

Notes

References

External links

Historic Images of Florida Hurricanes (State Archives of Florida)
President Lyndon Johnson and the Response to Hurricane Betsy @ University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs