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. (more...)

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Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Eloise

_______________________________ 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

_____________________________ 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

___________________________ 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