# 7332
Odds are, on the night of June 19th, 1972, no one sitting at home in New York state or Pennsylvania gave much thought to a weak early season hurricane named Agnes that was making landfall on the Florida panhandle more than a thousand miles to their south.
But a week later Agnes would end up being the costliest hurricane in U.S. history up until that date. And a life altering event for millions of people far removed from where she came ashore.
Amazingly, of the 122 deaths associated with this storm, only 9 occurred in Florida where Agnes made landfall. The rest - 113 fatalities - were caused by inland fresh water flooding, with New York and Pennsylvania suffering the highest loses.
NOAA describes the flooding damage this way:
Hurricane Agnes was the costliest natural disaster in the United States at that time. Damage was estimated at $3.1 billion and 117 deaths were reported. Hardest hit was Pennsylvania, with $2.1 billion in damages and 48 deaths, making Hurricane Agnes the worst natural disaster ever to hit the state. The damage over Pennsylvania was so extreme, the entire state was declared a disaster area by President Richard Nixon.
While we tend to concern ourselves most over the rare CATEGORY 5 storm (like Andrew in 1992 or Camille in 1969), it is often the slow moving minimal hurricane or tropical storm that produces extensive damage hundreds . . . sometimes more than 1000 miles inland.
Other storms with far-reaching impact include:
- Hurricane Hazel, which had already devastated Haiti (400-1000 deaths) came ashore on the North-South Carolina border in August of 1954. She claimed 95 lives in the United States and was responsible for as many as 100 deaths in Canada.
- The CAT 5 monster Camille, which claimed 143 lives along the Gulf coast also killed 113 people in associated flooding in Virginia.
- And Audrey, the horrific `surprise’ gulf coast CAT 4 storm of 1957 -that claimed more than 550 lives - at least 15 of those victims were in Canada.
Which is why today’s focus in NOAA’s National Hurricane Preparedness Week is inland flooding.
For more on this week’s preparedness campaign, click on the graphic below, and watch the videos.
When it comes to getting the latest information on hurricanes, your first stop should always be the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida. These are the real experts, and the only ones you should rely on to track and forecast the storm.
If you are on Twitter, you should also follow @FEMA, @CraigatFEMA, @NHC_Atlantic, @NHC_Pacific and @ReadyGov.
And to become better prepared as an individual, family, business owner, or community to deal with hurricanes, or any other type of disaster: visit the following preparedness sites.
FEMA http://www.fema.gov/index.shtm
READY.GOV http://www.ready.gov/
AMERICAN RED CROSS http://www.redcross.org/
