Browsing: Storms

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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“A Giant Pile of Broken Boats” in Southport, NC

Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Southport, North Carolina, and left a trail of damage and broken boats at two marinas there. WRAL News reported “a giant pile of broken boats” at the marinas, and boat owners reported looking around and trying to find their vessels in the debris. The storm skirted Florida; Sean Collins, the dockmaster at Vero Beach Municipal Marina, said one boat had a cleat pulled out there, and largely avoided Georgia, but it then slammed into the Southport area with 94-mph winds and a five-foot storm surge that simply stacked up water at Southport Marina and South…

Cruising Life
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Three Dead as Rescue Boat Sinks in Storm Off French Coast

Here’s a tragic story from the BBC: Storm Miguel kills three after overturning rescue ship off French coast Image copyrightAFP A sea rescue boat moments before it capsized, killing three crew A rescue boat has overturned in the Atlantic off the west coast of France leaving three crew dead, amid winds of up to 129 km/h (80 mph). They were part of a crew of seven who had gone to the aid of another boat which had got into difficulty as Storm Miguel struck the area. Winds of up to 147km/h hit northern Spain earlier, swirling around the Bay…

Cruising Life
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Early Predictions for Hurricane Season: About Same Number, and Just as Destructive, As Past Two Years

It’s still very early in the hurricane prediction business, but we already have two major forecasts for this year’s season, which starts June 1. They both agree that the Atlantic and Gulf coasts will have about the same number of storms as in an average year, but one prediction says the hurricanes we do have will be just as destructive as they’ve been in the past two years. Global Weather Oscillations Inc. specializes in predicting hurricane landfalls, which is what we really want to know. They use ClimatePulse technology, developed by David Dilley, a former NOAA meteorologist; it tracks landfall…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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On Watch

Flag Flying Over Frying Pan Shoal Tower During Florence Becomes Popular Symbol of Resilience By Peter A. Janssen Here’s a story about how one tattered American flag, flying over a former Coast Guard lighthouse off the coast of North Carolina, became a symbol of resilience and renewal during storm Florence. The Frying Pan Shoals lighthouse was built in 1854, about 39 miles off Southport and 32 miles from Bald Head Island, at the southern end of the shoals there. So many boats had broken apart on the shoals that the area was named the Graveyard of the Atlantic. On a…

Cruising Life
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Sudden Gale Destroys Marina in Wales, Damages 80 Boats, Leaves Wake of Accusations

An end-of-winter storm with gale force winds tore through Holyhead Marina on the northwest coast of Wales, the United Kingdom, damaging at least 80 boats, destroying the marina and leaving a wake of accusations and fears of environmental pollution. The marina is on a peninsula on Anglesey Island, almost due east across the Celtic Sea from Dublin in Ireland. As you can see in the video and pictures below from the BBC and the Daily Post, the sudden storm tore boats from their moorings, destroyed the docks at the marina, and sank some boats while tossing others, including large commercial…

Cruising Life
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Devastating Maine Storm “Worse Than Sandy” in Belfast Harbor

The storm that roared up the coast and left half a million without power in the Northeast really walloped Belfast Harbor in Maine early this week. Indeed, the Bangor Daily News reports that the wind and waves caused at least half a dozen boats to break free of their moorings and wash up on shore. Several were destroyed on the rocks (see the top picture). JB Turner, owner of the Front Street Shipyard, which is in the inner harbor, said his yard avoided the worst of the damage. Still, he said, “This hit us worse than Sandy.” See the picture…