The coastland times with which is combined the pilot and herald of Belhaven and Swan Quarter. [volume] (Manteo, N.C.) 1959-1973, 1961-09-22
CONGRESSMAN BONNER
REPORTS ON HURRICANES

hurricanes. We have all read OF the
recent disastrous effects Of the vic
ious assault of hurricane "Carla"
on our Gulf Coast. And now there
is grave possibility that Esther"
the fifth hurricane of this season,
viii threaten the east coast by the
middle Of next week.
recently discussed the subject
of hurricanes and other tropical
storms with officials of the Wealth
er Bureau. l believe you will be
interested in what / learned.
Hurricanes are tropical cyclones
with winds of over rs miles per
hour. Statistics show that since 49,
SO there have been an average of
four hurricanes a year to strike the
coast of the United States.
There are four distinct stages of
a hurricane.
The first is the FORMATION,
which occurs over the ocean either
in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico,
or the Atlantic. The formation of a
hurricane is caused by combina-
ton of wind and rain.
The next stage of the hurricane
is IMMATURITY. This is when
the wind speed increases, but the
storm is confined to small area.
The third stage of hurricanes is
called MATURITY. And in this de-
structive stage, the radius of the
hurricane itself is felt over a dis
lance of $50 to 200 miles.
The final stage of the hurricane
is the DECAY. In this stage the
general area of the storm increases
and the wind speed decreases. The
hurricane then gradually dissipates
over land or over the open ocean.
Tropical storms originate be-
tween what are called the doldrums
is a belt of low pressure near the
Equator.
AS we all know here around our
coast, the first physical indications
of a hurricane are high tides and
rough water. remember "Diane"
and "Connie" in August 1866 and
then clone" in September of the
same year.
These storms did a tremendous
amount of property damage to us.
Lots of the old timers said it was
the worst since the 1914 storm
when you could row boat down
Main Street in Washington. Ed
mund Harding remembers that one.
Then, Brenda" hit in 1860 with
winds up to 60 miles per hour.
Eight inches of rain fell along the
coast in that one. Hurricane "Don-
MAJ, the major one of 1860, did
more damage to Florida than to
any other eastern state, although
the "eye" moved inland along the
coast of North Carolina with winds
up to 83 miles per hour at Eliza
beth City.
Tides were eight feet above nor
NAL with Is foot waves along the
Outer Banks. The damage at More
head City, Beaufort, and the Mays
Head Manteo area were termed the
worst in the last ten years.
Hurricane Carla is now in the
process of dissipating over the land.
Hurricane "Debbie" is now moving
Northeastward toward Newfound-
land, and apparently, will not hit
the coast of the United States.
Hurricane ESTHER" is still in the
Atlantic Ocean and is 400 miles, as
of today, September Is, east, north
east of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
All three of these hurricanes
were seen by Satellite "Tyros IT.
and were further tracked by a CO.
operative effort of the Navy Air
Force. and the Weather Bureau.
Although we cannot control, as of
now, the course followed by these
tropical cyclones and hurricanes,
we have been able, thanks to ship
warnings and the aviation surveil-
lance of the storms, to give ade-
quate notice to people to permit
ev.cu'tion of the regions of low,
coastal land and to go to the inter-
Tor. The greatest mass evacuation
we have ever experienced in this
county took place during "Carla".
It is only through more and con-
tinuing reeearch that we shall be
able to determine the exact mech
anism of the production of tropical
cyclones and hurricanes and to
forecast the track over the earth.
All that we can say at the moment
is that there is definite pattern
followed by these storms and that
is, that they bounce away from
high pressure areas and like to flow
into low pressure. There is a proba-
bi'ity that future research win en-
able more long-range forecasting Of
their occurrence when we know
more about the phenomena Of the
upper atmosphere which is now be-
ing explored by the satellites this
country has put into space.