100px|Hurricane Eloise in the Gulf of Mexico before striking Florida
Hurricane Eloise was the most destructive tropical cyclone of the
1975 Atlantic hurricane season. Eloise formed as a tropical depression
on September 13 to the east of the Virgin Islands. The depression
tracked westward as it intensified into a tropical storm, and after
passing north Puerto Rico, Eloise briefly attained hurricane intensity.
However, the storm quickly weakened back into a tropical storm upon
making landfall over Hispaniola. After eventually striking the northern
Yucatan Peninsula, the cyclone entered the Gulf of Mexico and became a
Category 3 hurricane on September 23. Eloise made landfall along the
Florida Panhandle west of Panama City before moving inland across
Alabama and eventually dissipating on September 24. The storm produced
torrential rainfall throughout Puerto Rico and Hispaniola, causing
extensive flooding, over 40 deaths, and severe damage. Thousands in
these areas were left homeless. As Eloise progressed westward, it
affected Cuba, though to a lesser extent. Upon making landfall in
Florida, Eloise generated winds reportedly gusting to 155 mph
(249 km/h). Hundreds of buildings were demolished by the powerful winds
and strong storm surge. Torrential rains along the entire East Coast of
the United States created an unprecedented and far-reaching flooding
event, especially into the Mid-Atlantic States. The storm killed 80
people along its entire track, and due to its severe impacts, the name
"Eloise" was retired from the list of Atlantic tropical cyclone names.
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Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Eloise>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1782:
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, a leading British
Whig Party statesman, began his second non-consecutive term as Prime
Minister of Great Britain.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Watson-Wentworth%2C_2nd_Marquess_of_Rockingham>
1915:
Typhoid Mary, the first person to be identified as an asymptomatic
carrier of typhoid fever, was placed into quarantine, where she would
spend the rest of her life.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoid_Mary>
1977:
Two Boeing 747 airliners collided on a foggy runway at Los Rodeos
Airport on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 people in the
worst aircraft accident in aviation history.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster>
1980:
Nelson Bunker Hunt and his brother failed in their attempt to corner
the world market in silver, causing panic in commodity and futures
exchanges.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Thursday>
1998:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug sildenafil,
better known by the trade name Viagra, for use as a treatment for
erectile dysfunction, the first pill to be approved for this condition
in the United States.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sildenafil>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
fan death (n):
The urban legend originating in South Korea that if an electric fan is
left running overnight in a closed room it can cause the death of those
inside
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fan_death>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
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Today, there are too many points of view of equal value and prestige,
each showing the relativity of the other, to permit us to take any one
position and to regard it as impregnable and absolute. Only this
socially disorganized intellectual situation makes possible the
insight, hidden until now by a generally stable social structure and
the practicability of certain traditional norms, that every point of
view is particular to a social situation.
--Karl Mannheim
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karl_Mannheim>