Hi everybody and welcome. I simply can’t believe that it has been a whole year since I have been writing this column for the Hometown News. It also marks the one-year anniversary of this great community newspaper. During the past year, I have covered many topics including hurricane preparedness; flooding, snowstorms and tornados just to name a few. My intense interest in the weather dates back many years to when I was growing up in New Jersey. While most other kids were looking forward to bright sunny days, I always found a good snowstorm or a strong thunderstorm really exciting and intriguing at the same time. Who could forget the great nor’easters with the 50 – 60 mph wind gusts howling through the barren foliage. To a die-hard weather watcher like myself, there is nothing quite like a good storm to nestle down with on a rainy night.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank my wife Carol, Tammy the managing editor and Steve, who is the publisher, the opportunity to share my thoughts, ideas and facts about our ever-changing environment. Happy Anniversary Hometown News!!
The past couple of weeks I have talking a lot about hurricane preparedness and what to do when a storm is approaching and is underway. Today in the final segment of my series on hurricanes, I would like to talk about what to do after a storm has come and gone. You should not try to venture out of your safe space until an all clear is given by local authorities. Listen to local radio and NOAA weather radio for local hurricane statements and information. Remember that many roads will be blocked and under water. If you need to travel, do so with extreme care. You need to watch for dangling wires, undermined roads and flooding. Do not try to go sight seeing as it will hinder emergency personnel from doing their job. You should report any damaged sewer, water or electrical lines to the proper authorities. It is also very important to check your food and water supplies for any signs of spoilage or contamination.
We all hope we never actually have to use this information but it is important to have it handy just in case. If we all take the proper precautions, we can have a fatality free hurricane season!
Now on to the Time Capsule…
June l3, l98l -- Hillsborough County -- A tornado was observed moving across a field in northwestern Hillsborough County near Citrus Park as severe thunderstorms moved through the area. Witnesses reported that several power poles in a row were knocked down. No injuries were reported; however, two persons were trapped in a car by live wires. -- Polk County -- A tornado touched down briefly 6 miles east of Bartow causing extensive damage to barns and buildings and knocking down several trees. No injuries reported.
June 13, l986 -- Alachua County -- A severe thunderstorm with Ping-pong ball size hail and high winds moved through Gainesville. Several trees were downed by high wind.
June 14, 1955 -- south Biscayne Bay -- Lightning killed a fisherman in his boat and injured two.
June14, l966 -- Brevard Co., Titusville -- Lightning struck a home starting a fire that killed a child and injured another.
June14, l973 -- Jackson Co., Campbellton -- Lightning killed a l7 year old working in a metal storage bin.
June15, l974 -- Dade Co., Homestead -- Lightning killed a 52 year old man in a boat in Biscayne Bay as he waited for the storm to pass.
June 15, l974 -- Alachua Co., Gainesville -- Lightning struck a trailer causing a fire, which burned to death a 60 year old man and his 58 year old wife.
June16-17, 1906 -- Keys and south Florida -- Tropical Storm moved north out of the Caribbean, through the middle Keys and exited into the Atlantic near West Palm Beach - gaining hurricane strength over the Atlantic.
June16, l992 -- Polk Co. -- Lightning killed a man that stopped to help two female motorists who had stalled on US Hwy. 17. One woman suffered some hearing loss.
June l6, l994 -- Duval County, Jacksonville Beach -- Rip Current -- A 34-year-old male visiting from Georgia, drowned in a rip current caused by strong onshore winds.
June17, l959 -- A Tropical Depression spawned several tornadoes -- the most severe in Miami since 1925. -- Dade Co., Coconut Grove to Miami --Tornado moved northeast through Miami, across Biscayne Bay, and then out to sea. 77 people were injured, mostly from flying glass. -- Palm Beach/Martin Counties -- Tornado damaged an unoccupied Girl Scout Camp in the Dickinson State Park and destroyed a small home. A 20-ft boat was slammed into a pine tree. Heavy rain caused crop damage in southwest Florida and tides were 2-3 ft above normal from St. Petersburg to Naples. This Depression went on to become a hurricane and killed 33 lobster fishermen in the Canadian Maritimes.
June 17-21, l959 --south Florida -- Heavy rains over the southern peninsula, associated with and following a tropical depression and subtropical storm, caused considerable flooding in poorly drained and low lying agricultural areas and some residential sections. Considerable pastureland and some citrus land, particularly in the Indian River section, were inundated. Some highways also sustained flood damage. High tides along the west coast from Tampa south damaged boat docks and caused beach erosion. 5-day rain totals were mostly in the seven to l2 inch category and some scattered points measured l5 inches or more during the period.
June 17, l965 -- Brevard Co., Eau Gallie -- Lightning killed a person.
June l7-l8, -1968 -- peninsula -- Tropical Depression Brenda - crossed Key West and moved through central Florida exiting into the Atlantic near Jacksonville. This storm gained hurricane strength north of Bermuda.
June l7-l8, l982 -- statewide -- A subtropical storm moved from the southeast Gulf of Mexico, northeast across the central Florida Peninsula into the Atlantic causing at least 12 tornadoes, high winds, extensive beach erosion along the west coast, and heavy rain that flooded rivers and urban areas. From Tampa Bay to Naples some waterfront building suffered damage from undermining and damage to marinas and small boats was widespread. Heavy rains caused flooding of six rivers and creeks in west central Florida. On the Manatee River, 20 families were evacuated. The Peace River crested a week after the storm causing the evacuation of 130 families. A l l/2 year old boy drowned in a flooded drainage ditch, and a Brevard Co. woman drowned when her canoe turned over, her four year old son was rescued after clinging to the canoe for six hours. Twelve tornadoes were reported between the morning of the 17th and the morning of the 18th from Dade and Broward Counties to Polk and Volusia Counties. On the evening of the 17th a tornado destroyed five trailers and two cars in northwest Hendry County, killing a man in a trailer and seriously injuring his wife. In Glades Co. five more trailers, a cabin, and a camper were destroyed by the same tornado injuring three people. Another tornado moved through the Lake Josephine area in Highlands County destroying 23 homes and mobile homes and damaging many more, injuring nine people. The ten other tornadoes caused much property damage, but no deaths or serious injuries.
June l8 - l9, l972 -- Statewide -- Hurricane Agnes moved northward through the Gulf of Mexico at l0-l5 mph about 200 miles off the west coast of Florida. It was well west of Ft. Myers on the 18th and passed west of Tampa on the 19th and made landfall in the Panhandle near Cape San Blas in the afternoon. Gale force winds were felt throughout the State, but no hurricane force winds were reported. Agnes spawned the worst tropical cyclone severe weather outbreak in Florida history on the 18th and 19th when the outer rain bands produced tornadoes and severe thunderstorms over the peninsula. Almost two dozen tornadoes and windstorms were reported from the Keys to Cape Canaveral. Six people were killed and 40 injured in Okeechobee when a series of windstorms, that may have been tornadoes, destroyed mobile homes at on the 18th. One person was killed and seven injured when another windstorm struck a trailer park at La Belle in Hendry Co. Other tornado injuries include: Forty people injured early on the 18th at Big Coppitt Key, two injured at Basinger in Okeechobee Co., three injured at Haines City in Polk Co., four injured in Crystal Springs, 11 injured in Malabar and 12 in Cape Canaveral in Brevard Co. Most of the injuries were in trailers. The highest tides in many years along the west coast destroyed homes and businesses, washed away roads and cut off access to many offshore islands. There was severe beach erosion. Damage estimates total $5 million to public property and $36 million to private property. One person drowned on the west coast and another death was attributed to a storm-related fatal heart attack.
That’s all for this weeks Time Capsule. I hope you enjoyed it. I love to hear from you! Please e-mail me your ideas and suggestions to JOESDISCOWEATHER@AOL.COM. As always, for the latest in severe weather updates and now winter weather updates from your hometown go to JOESDISCOWEATHERCENTRAL.COM! You can also join me for a free cup of coffee and a free copy of The Hometown News at the Stuart K Mart garden center every Saturday morning!