page_title: Hurricane Betsy
section_title: Impact
hierarchical_section_title: Hurricane Betsy / Impact
caption_attribution_description: English: Storm total rainfall map of Hurricane Betsy during September 1965.
context_page_description: Hurricane Betsy was an intense and destructive tropical cyclone that brought widespread damage to areas of Florida and the central United States Gulf Coast in September 1965. The storm's erratic nature, coupled with its intensity and minimized preparation time contributed to making Betsy the first tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin to accrue at least $1 billion in damage. While the storm primarily affected areas of southern Florida and Louisiana, lesser effects were felt in the Bahamas and as far inland in the United States as the Ohio River Valley. Betsy began as a tropical depression north of French Guiana on August 27, and strengthened as it moved in a general northwesterly direction. After executing a slight anticyclonic loop north of the Bahamas, Betsy proceeded to move through areas of south Florida on September 8, causing extensive crop damage. After emerging into the Gulf of Mexico, the cyclone strengthened and reached its peak intensity equivalent to that of a Category 4 hurricane on September 10 before making its final landfall near Grand Isle, Louisiana, shortly thereafter.
context_section_description: The effects of Hurricane Betsy were of far-reaching and unprecedented severity. Though the extent of impacts were limited to the Bahamas and portions of the United States, the damage in these respective regions were considerable. According to the Hurricane Research Division of the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Betsy produced Category 3 winds (111 mph (179 km/h) or greater) in Southeastern Florida and Southeastern Louisiana. However, winds of such intensity were also reported in the Bahamas. The final, enumerated damage figure of $1.42 billion in damage costs made Betsy the first tropical cyclone in the United States to accrue more than $1 billion in damage, unadjusted for inflation. For this reason, the tropical cyclone was nicknamed "Billion Dollar Betsy."
caption: Rainfall totals in the United States
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