Tropical Storm Hanna was the ninth tropical cyclone and eighth named storm of the 2002 Atlantic hurricane season. Hanna formed through the complex interaction of a surface trough, a tropical wave, and an upper- level low pressure system. Initially designated a tropical depression, it attained tropical storm status and a peak intensity of 1,001 mbar (29.6 inHg), with winds of 60 miles per hour (100 km/h). Hanna crossed southeastern Louisiana, and made a second landfall along the Alabama–Mississippi border. On Dauphin Island, Alabama, the storm caused coastal flooding which closed roads and forced the evacuation of residents. Florida received high wind gusts, heavy rainfall, and strong surf that resulted in the deaths of three swimmers. 20,000 homes in the state lost electricity. In Georgia, significant flooding occurred. Crop damage was extensive, and about 335 structures were damaged by the flooding. The storm caused a total of about $20 million USD in damage.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Storm_Hanna_%282002%29

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1846:

The English poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning (both pictured) married in secret to avoid their disapproving families before moving to Italy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Barrett_Browning

1933:

Hungarian-American physicist Leo Szilard conceived of the idea of the nuclear chain reaction while waiting for a traffic light in Bloomsbury, London. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Szilard

1948:

The People's Liberation Army launched the Liaoshen campaign, the first of the three major military campaigns during the late stage of the Chinese Civil War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liaoshen_campaign

1995:

Hurricane Ismael formed off the southwest coast of Mexico; it went on to kill over a hundred people in the country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Ismael

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

historiaster: (derogatory, archaic, rare) An inferior historian. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/historiaster

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Truth would quickly cease to be stranger than fiction, once we got used to it.   --H. L. Mencken https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._L._Mencken