Hurricane Isabel was the costliest and deadliest hurricane in the 2003
Atlantic hurricane season. The ninth named storm, fifth hurricane, and
second major hurricane of the season, Isabel formed from a tropical
wave on September 6 in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. It moved
northwestward, and within an environment of light wind shear and warm
waters it steadily strengthened to reach peak winds of 165 mph
(265 km/h) on September 11. After fluctuating in intensity for four
days, Isabel gradually weakened and made landfall on the Outer Banks of
North Carolina with winds of 105 mph (165 km/h) on September 18. It
quickly weakened over land and became extratropical over western
Pennsylvania the next day. Moderate to severe damage extended up the
Atlantic coastline and as far inland as West Virginia. Roughly six
million people were left without electric service in the eastern United
States from the strong winds of Isabel. Rainfall from the storm
extended from South Carolina to Maine, and westward to Michigan.
Throughout the path of Isabel, damage totaled about $3.6 billion
(2003 USD, $4.3 billion 2011 USD). 16 deaths in seven states were
directly related to the hurricane, with 35 deaths in six states and one
province indirectly related to the hurricane.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Isabel>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1738:
Serse, an opera by Baroque composer George Frideric Handel loosely
based on Xerxes I of Persia, premiered in London.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serse>
1912:
The passenger liner RMS Titanic sank about two hours and forty minutes
after colliding with an iceberg, killing over 1,500 people.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic>
1947:
Jackie Robinson, the first African American to break the baseball color
line, played his first game in Major League Baseball.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson>
1955:
American restauranteur Ray Kroc opened the ninth McDonald's franchise
in Des Plaines, Illinois, an occasion considered to be the founding of
the present corporation.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald%27s>
1995:
At a GATT ministerial meeting in Marrakech, Morocco, representatives of
124 countries and the European Communities signed an agreement to
establish the World Trade Organization.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Organization>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
gewgaw (n):
A showy trifle, a toy
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gewgaw>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Any one who in discussion relies upon authority uses, not his
understanding, but rather his memory. Good culture is born of a good
disposition; and since the cause is more to be praised than the effect,
I will rather praise a good disposition without culture, than good
culture without the disposition.
--Leonardo da Vinci
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci>