Weather in the NEWS

October 1999

Hurricanes sweep across Caribbean and SE USA
Hurricane Irene - 15th October
Hurricane Irene - 15th October 1999
1999 has seen a busy hurricane season. In mid-October, Hurricane Irene swept in across the Caribbean and Cuba before reaching the southern tip of Florida. Over the next two days, the hurricane swung north skirting the coast of Florida before making a new landfall in North Carolina.

In Florida, Irene left 14 people dead with 5 people being electrocuted by submerged power cables. In one family, a mother and her two teenage sons all died when they were electrocuted by cables brought down by the high winds and submerged under floods caused by the 18 inches of rain that fell in just 24 hours. Over 1 Million Florida residents were estimated to be without power supplies on 16th October.

Hurricane Irene - 16th October
Hurricane Irene - 16th October 1999 with developed eye
Hurricane Floyd: response and recovery

Hurricane Floyd (late September) was one of the strongest hurricanes to hit the SE USA region in recent years. Graded as a Category 5 hurricane, Floyd caused substantial damage across a wide area. At the end of last year's hurricane season, a similarly graded system, Hurricane 'Mitch' caused catastrophic damage when it swept across Central America.

Flooding following Hurricane Floyd Damage caused by Hurricane Floyd
The Tar River flows into a residential area in Greenville, North Carolina Damage to a house in Kingdale, Virginia. Water in the house blew out the wall
Images: FEMA News
For information about damage caused by Floyd - and the response of the US national emergency agencies etc., visit the Floyd response and recovery site at http://www.floydhelp.org

Hurricane Gert

Hurricane Gert: 19th September
Gert closely followed Floyd and gave the eastern seaboard the prospect of two hurricanes within a week. But Gert stayed out to sea and swung north tracking towards Bermuda - seen here in an image captured by GOES-E on 19th September.

Both Floyd and Gert tracked across the North Atlantic and linked into northern depressions bringing substantial rainfall to North West Europe during the last 10 days of September.

Earlier news pages are also available:

1999

  • August 1999 - Total eclipse over Europe - hurricane season gets under way
  • August 1999 - Brilliant sunny summer - and flash floods kill 19 in Switzerland
  • July 1999 - Summer across the UK
  • June 1999 - the Summer solstice (longest day)
  • May 1999 - Warm weather in the UK - tornadoes in the USA
  • April 1999 - Weather difficulties for high-tech weapons in the Balkans
  • March 1999 - Spring arrives - and alpine avalanches
  • February 1999 - Flooding across southern England
  • January 1999 - Storms lashed both northern and southern hemispheres

1998

  • December 1998 - Dreaming of a White Christmas! - Seasons of the Sun
  • November 1998 - Hurricane Mitch - one of the most severe hurricanes of this century wreaks havoc across Nicaragua and Honduras
  • October 1998 - Typhoons hit Philippines and Japan - Winter weather warnings for UK
  • September 1998 - Atlantic hurricane season under way
  • Summer 98 - information about conditions in June and July.

[ Back ]Return to main Weather index page

Page update: October 1999

Online weather resources: St. Vincent College