24/7 Emergency ServiceUpdate on 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season
9/24/2020 (Permalink)
If your home or business suffers storm or flood damage, call SERVPRO of Marietta West. We make storm & flood damage "Like it never even happened."
The summer of 2020 has been a particularly active hurricane season, with eight hurricanes (two of which were major hurricane events) and more than twelve tropical storms/tropical depressions. Both major hurricane events occurred during the heart of the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane season falling between the month of August and September. They both also made landfall in the Gulf causing substantial damage due to high winds and storm surge. Hurricane Laura unleashed her wrath on the western coast of the gulf, primarily affecting Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. While Hurricane Sally was the first hurricane to make landfall on the Alabama coast since Hurricane Ivan in 2004, Sally mainly affected Southern Mississippi, Alabama, Northern Florida, and even caused flash flood warnings from Southwest Georgia to Northern parts of the state.
2020 Atlantic Hurricanes
- Hurricane Hanna - 7/24/20 - Tropical Storm Hanna, the precursor to Hurricane Hanna, developed from a tropical depression about 380 miles east-southeast of Port O’Connor, TX. The following day around Mid-day, Tropical Storm Hanna intensified into a category one hurricane approximately 90 miles east-northeast of Port Mansfield, TX before making landfall that same day just before midnight 15 miles north of Port Mansfield and 70 miles south of Corpus Christi, TX with sustained wind speeds of 90 mph. Hurricane Hanna was downgraded back to a tropical storm roughly 25 hours after it was upgraded to category one hurricane in an area about 30 miles northwest of McAllen, TX and would again be downgraded to a tropical depression 15 hours later in Northeastern Mexico.
- Hurricane Isaias - 7/29/20 - Tropical Storm Isaias forms from a tropical cyclone about 155 miles south of Ponce, Puerto Rico and 265 miles southeast of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and would soon be upgraded to Hurricane Isaias in the coming days. The tropical storm reached landfall on the southern coast of the Dominican Republic on the 30th and quickly strengthened into a hurricane about 70 miles east-southeast of the Great Inagua Island. With 80 mph wind speeds Hurricane Isaias made the first landfall on North Andros Island. On August 4th, around 11:00 pm Hurricane Isaias made its second landfall near Ocean Isle Beach, NC with sustained wind speeds of 85 mph. Several hours later and about 35 miles west-southwest of Greenville, NC and 50 miles east-southeast of Raleigh, NC, Hurricane Isaias was downgraded to a tropical storm. Within 24-hours of making landfall in the US Hurricane Isaias became a post-tropical cyclone and eventually dissipated.
- Hurricane Laura - 8/21/20 - Hurricane Laura like many hurricanes began as a tropical storm. Tropical Storm Laura developed near the Leeward Isles and passed near the southwest coast of Puerto Rico and on the 22nd passed directly over the island of Hispaniola and early on the 23rd continued to develop off the west coast to Haiti with wind speed of 50 mph. That same day Tropical Storm Laura passed the southeastern coast of Cuba, gaining strength due to Cuba’s warm coastal waters. On the 25th Tropical Storm Laura continued to grow in strength and emerged a category one hurricane in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. Over the course of the next day and a half Hurricane Laura grew in strength to a category four hurricane and turned north toward the western coast of Florida and northern Gulf Coast. During this time period wind speeds grew from 75 mph to 150 mph. By the 27th Hurricane Laura was quite close to the western coast of Louisiana and would make landfall near Cameron, LA with wind speed around 150 mph. On that same day wind gusts were recorded at Lake Charles Regional Airport in excess of 120 mph. Over the course of the next 10 hours Hurricane Laura would make her way northward into northern Louisiana. Hurricane Laura dropped, on average, 2-4 inches rainfall with pockets of higher amounts from Louisiana to Arkansas. Over the island of Hispaniola she dropped between five and nine inches of rain causing 35 fatalities (31 of which were in Haiti). In the US Hurricane Laura also proved deadly, claiming 22 lives (14 of those were in Louisiana).
- Hurricane Marco - 8/21/20 - Hurricane Marco developed from a tropical depression/tropical storm in the northwestern portion of the Caribbean Sea. On the 22nd Tropical Storm Marco passed through the Yucatan Straight into the Gulf of Mexico with sustained winds of 65 mph and by the 23rd it was upgraded to a hurricane. On that very same day Hurricane Marco continued moving northward but eventually weakened and was downgraded back to a tropical storm. By the 24th Tropical Storm Marco was only able to sustain 40 mph winds and would soon weaken further as it moved westward. While never actually making landfall in Florida, Hurricane/Tropical Storm Marco did drop between 3-9 inches of rain across the Florida Panhandle and when it did make landfall near the Mississippi River it caused only minor rainfall across the region.
- Hurricane Nana - 9/2/2020 - Hurricane Nana developed from a tropical depression in the Caribbean Sea with sustained winds of 60mph and was expected to move in a westward direction at about 18 mph toward South America, causing a Hurricane Watch off the coast of Belize. As the weather system weakened, it also caused Tropical Storm Warnings for Yucatan, Mexico, the northern coast of Honduras from Punta Patuca westward to the Guatemala border, for Roatan Island, the Bay Islands of Honduras, and for the Caribbean Sea coast of Guatemala.
- Hurricane Paulette - 9/12/2020 - Hurricane Paulette developed from a tropical depression in the Central Atlantic Ocean six days prior to becoming a named hurricane. On the 12th Hurricane Paulette passed directly over Bermuda and weakened over the course of the next four days to a post-tropical storm nearly 450 miles east-southeast of Cape Race Newfoundland, Canada. Paulette was the first hurricane to directly hit Bermuda since Hurricane Gonzalo in 2014. On the 22nd post-tropical storm regained strength and was reclassified as a Post-Tropical Cyclone Paulette about 445 miles east-southeast of the Azores Islands with wind speeds approaching 40 mph. At the time this blog was written, Post-Tropical Cyclone Paulette was expected to become a remnant by the end of the 23rd.
- Hurricane Sally - 9/14/2020 - Hurricane Sally developed from a tropical storm in the northern Gulf of Mexico about 130 miles east-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River with wind speeds approaching 90 mph and was a slow moving system. A Storm Surge Warning was issued for Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Borgne, and Lake Maurepas; basically the area from Port Fourchon, LA to the Alabama/Florida Boarder. Hurricane Warnings were also issued for Morgan City, LA, Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas, and New Orleans; covering pretty much the same swath of the Gulf Coast. Tropical Storm Warnings were issued from the Alabama/Florida Border to Indian Pass Florida and Morgan City. By the 15th Hurricane Sally was about 65 miles east of the mouth of the Mississippi River with sustained winds around 85 mph and was moving northwest at around 2 mph towards the Gulf Coast. Forecasters were calling for “Historical flooding” and “extreme life-threatening flash flooding” through the following day when she was expected to make landfall. Early in the morning on the 16th, Sally made landfall with wind speed nearing 100 mph with gusts exceeding that speed. By the 17th Sally began to pick up movement speed in a northeastward direction about 50 miles southeast of Montgomery, AL but with wind speeds dying down to around 30 mph. Sally was soon downgraded to a tropical depression on the 18th as it made its way across southeastern Alabama, through central Georgia and finally that evening making its way over South Carolina. Hurricane Sally produced large amounts of rainfall across the southland dropping 8-12 inches (with higher localized amounts to the tune of 20-35 inches) throughout the central Gulf Coast west of Tallahassee, FL to Mobile Bay, AL. In central AL and central Georgia she dropped 4-8 inches with isolated amounts up to 12 inches, causing significant flash floods particularly in urban areas. She continued to drench western South Carolina to westen/central North Carolina with up to 6 inches of water with isolated areas receiving up to 9 inches of water. The last area to feel Hurricane Sally’s wrath was southeastern Virginia, which received between two and five inches of rain with isolated areas receiving up to seven inches of rain. Sally caused life threatening surf and rip currents and also spun off several tornadoes in the Florida Panhandle, southern Alabama and southwestern Georgia. Storm surge along the Alabama and Florida border to the Okaloosa/Walton County line in FL including Pensacola Bay and Choctawhatchee Bay was between four and seven ft. Other areas like Dauphin Island, Bon Secour Bay, Saint Andrew Bay, and the Walton Bay County Line received between one and four foot of storm surge.
- Hurricane Teddy - 9/16/2020 - Hurricane Teddy developed from a tropical storm in the Atlantic Ocean early on the morning of the 16th and later that day intensified into a category 2 hurricane. The very next day Hurricane Teddy fluctuated in strength greatly by slowing to a category 1 hurricane and then six hour later strengthening wind speeds of 140 mph resulting in a category 4 hurricane. Over the course of the next three days Hurricane Teddy fluctuated between category 4 to category 3, then back to category 4 again, before finally settling in a category 1 hurricane on the 21st. On the 23rd, Hurricane Teddy finally made landfall near Ecum Secum, Nova Scotia as a category 1 hurricane with wind speeds around 65 mph.
SERVPRO of Marietta West is an industry leader and one of the most trusted name in the restoration industry. We are proud to serve Marietta, GA, Smyrna, GA, Big Shanty, GA, Kennesaw, GA, and Fair Oaks, GA for over fifteen years. If your home or business suffers storm or flood damage call SERVPRO of Marietta West today at (770) 428-5467 or you can click here and one of our claim representatives will contact you.
If you would like more information on SERVPRO of Marietta West’s storm restoration services check out our previous Storm Restoration Before and After Photos: “Marietta Condominium Flood Cleanup”; “Tree on Roof”; “Flooded Kitchen and Entryway”; “Flooded Kitchen and Stairwell”; “Flooded Entryway to Home”; “Flooded Hallway”
*sources include:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_2020_Atlantic_hurricane_season