Will Hanna Be Another Floyd?
Posted: (September 03, 2008 08:22 pm)

I have read several articles and blogs that are talking about Hanna being just as bad if not worse than Hurricane Floyd back in 1992. Well, let me take a quick second to clean this suggestion up a little bit here. Just like Gustav was not even on the same playing field as Hurricane Katrina, Hanna will not be anything even remotely close to what Floyd was.

Were dealing with two completely differnt storms here. There tracks may be similar riding up the east coast, but that's about it as far as the comparisons go. You have to remember that Floyd was a product of what is called the Cape Verde storm. These are the big storms that develop way out in the Atlantic and have days to not only build in strength but overall size as well. Floyd's exact development was some 1000 miles east of the Lesser Antilles. So there was plenty of open water and time for this storm to get its act together. Because of this, Floyd became a monster as it grazed the Florida coast with winds of 155 mph which was border line category 5 status. Hanna will not have the time or the capability to get this big. 

Even though Floyd was a huge wind producer at one time, it weakened dramatically before making landfall and struck North Carolina as a strong category 2 storm with winds of 110 mph. The North Carolina coast also benefited from the track of Floyd because the worst part of the storm (northeast quadrant) for the most part stayed off shore. Therefore, the storm surge was only 10 feet when it could of been much, much worse had the hurricane tracked farther inland. Yet even still Floyd went down as one of the worst storms in US history. The BIG problem was the tremendous amounts of rain that fell during the duration of this event. It was a huge storm with large, heavy rainbands that extened hundreds of miles outward from the center of circulation. Portions of eastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia received over 20 inches of rain from this system with locations along the Delmarva and Delaware Valley ranging in the 8 to 14 inch range. This produced horrible flash flooding problems in 9 states.

Overall damage was close to $6 billion with 57 fatalities. This was the deadliest US hurricane since Hurricane Agnes of 1972. Out of those 57 deaths 46 of them were the victims of drowning in inland fresh water sections. People just seriously underestimated how deep the water actually was.  Vehicle related deaths accounted for 55% of the casualties which is a perfect example for that underestimation. Portions of 10 states were declared disaster areas. Shopping malls, roads, interstates, bridges and entire towns were under water. 

Are you starting to remember the picture now of what was once Hurricane Floyd of 1999? I say again.....Hanna will not be anything even remotely close to what Floyd was. Now with that said, yes there will be heavy rains that fall along the I-95 corridor from North Carolina into the Megalopolis. And yes there will be flooding that develops, some of it could be bad in certain locations depending on where the heavy rainbands set up. But a Floyd this will not be. 

There are three main reasons why this will not be another Floyd. The first reason is because this storm is not even close to being the same size that Floyd was. Floyd was a monster.... a perfect example of a meteorological engine! The amount of liguid that was present in that storm was absolutely ridiculous! The second reason is there will not be any interaction with a cold front this time around. People forget that Floyd's heaviest rainbands were along the coast, yet the extent of the extreme flooding (outside of North Carolina) was further inland. Thats because the energy from Floyd was actually enhanced from the approaching cold front from the west. But not too many out there remember that because the name Floyd stole the show.  The third and final reason that Hanna will not be as bad as Floyd is because of how quickly the storm will be moving once it makes it north of the Bahamas. 

It is still a hurricane, and North Carolina needs to get prepared for this appraoching storm. Now is the time to board up the windows, buy the safety kits...batteries, water, food and other supplies. But with thousands along the Gulf coast already complaining that the government over-reacted with Gustav making them leave there homes the last thing that needs to be on your mind is that Hanna will be another Floyd!