Hurricane Debbie was the most powerful cyclone on record to strike Ireland in September. The fourth named storm of the 1961 Atlantic hurricane season, Debbie originated from a well-defined tropical disturbance that was first identified in late August over Central Africa. Tracking generally westward, the system moved off the coast of Senegal on September 5 into the Atlantic Ocean. On September 6, Debbie passed through the southern Cape Verde Islands as a strong tropical storm and resulted in a plane crash that killed 60 people. Thereafter its location was uncertain until September 10 and on the following day, Debbie attained its peak intensity as a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale, with maximum winds of 120 mph (195 km/h). Gradually weakening, it passed over the western Azores as a minimal hurricane on September 15 and skirted the coast of Western Ireland on September 16 as a powerful storm. It brought record winds to much of the country, with a peak gust of 114 mph (183 km/h) measured just offshore, causing widespread damage and disruption, killing 12 people (and a further 6 people in Northern Ireland) and caused US$40–50 million in damage.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Debbie_(1961)
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1671:
Irish-born Colonel Thomas Blood was caught trying to steal the English Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Blood
1873:
Panic of 1873: The Vienna Stock Exchange crashed, following two years of overexpansion in the German and Austro-Hungarian economies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1873
1877:
Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister Mihail Kogălniceanu made a speech in the Parliament that declared Romania was discarding Ottoman suzerainty. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihail_Kog%C4%83lniceanu
1960:
The United States Food and Drug Administration announced it would approve the use of Searle's Enovid for birth control, making it the first oral contraceptive pill. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_oral_contraceptive_pill
1979:
Prominent Iranian Jew Habib Elghanian was executed after having been convicted by a revolutionary tribunal of various charges, triggering a mass exodus of Jews from Iran. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habib_Elghanian
2005:
Pope Benedict XVI began the beatification process for his predecessor Pope John Paul II, waiving the standard five years required after the nominee's death. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatification_of_Pope_John_Paul_II
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
green gown: (now archaic, historical) A dress that has been stained green from rolling in the grass; generally with allusion to sexual activity, especially a woman's loss of virginity. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/green_gown
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
When a new baby laughs for the first time a new fairy is born, and as there are always new babies there are always new fairies. --J. M. Barrie https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._M._Barrie
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