2003 Damage Reports

Tropical Storm Bill, 60 mph winds, 4 deaths, 30 million in damage

• Hits southeast Louisiana on June 30th from the south.
• Houma, Louisiana: A five foot storm surge topples levees in Montegut and Pointe-aux-Chenes, flooded hundreds of homes and left 1,000 people without power.
• Cocodrie, Louisiana: Winds were clocked at 64 mph.
• Reserve, Louisiana: One person was seriously hurt and three suffered minor injuries when a tornado tore up a mobile home 38 miles from New Orleans. Twenty other homes and a private school gym also were damaged, said Van Gilmore, assistant director of civil defense in St. John the Baptist Parish.
• Lake Toxaway, North Carolina: 9.15 inches of rain.
• Table Rock Reservoir, South Carolina: 6.15 inches.
  
  

Hurricane Claudette

• Goliad County, Texas: Highway 77 closed north of Refugio and south of Highway 239. 5 to 6 18 wheelers blown over on their sides across lanes.
• Aransas County Texas: Holiday Beach Speedy Stop lost roof.
• Calhoun County, Texas: Sustained winds of 80 mph with gust to 96 mph at Dow Chemical plant. Roof blown off portion of the high school. Old historic building in town leaning and possibly damaged beyond repair according to sheriff. Entire trees observed blowing down the street. Wide spread damage across the county.
• Port Lavaca, Texas: Gusts to 111mph. At least a dozen telephone poles blown down across Highway 35 southwest of Port Lavaca. Tornado on the ground for a minute caused damage to homes in Port Lavaca. Reported by Calhoun County EOC.
• Port Alto, Texas: Nearly every building has reports of damage.
• Refugio County, Texas: In Tivoli, buildings damaged and power poles down. 5.63 inches of rain from quick west moving storm.
• Jourdanton, Texas: 13 year old boy crushed by fallen tree.
• Port O'Connor, Texas: Landfall 28.91 inHg. (979mb)
• San Antonio, Texas: Thirteen-year-old Clayton Dojahn died when a massive mesquite tree succumbed to high winds and fell on him in Jourdanton.
• Victoria, Texas: 33-year-old Sharon Bauer, who died after a huge limb from a live oak tree snapped and fell on her head as she went to inspect the storm damage.

Hurricane Erika, August 16th

• Mexico: 2 die in Montemorelos, truck swept away. Minimal damage in south Texas.

Hurricane Fabian, Bermuda, September 5th

• 25,000 or 32,000 without power after storm. 4 missing swept out to sea in cars and a total of 8 fatalities. Landmark buildings such as the House of Assembly, Bridge House and Buckingham in St. George's, City Hall, Gibbs Hill Lighthouse, Sonesta Beach Hotel, the Fairmont Southampton Hotel, Temperance Hall in Hamilton Parish, and Somerset Cricket Club were all damaged. Over 300 million in damage (US).
• John Smith's Bay and Spittal Pond Nature Reserve, Bermuda: South Shore Road completely impassable after the storm.
• West End, Bermuda: The Fairmont Southampton, suites were knocked out on the fifth floor and the roof damaged. Beachside restaurants at Elbow Beach and Sonesta Beach were also wiped away.

Hurricane Isabel, September 18th

• In all, about 6 million people from North Carolina to New York lost power from Isabel. 23 killed as of September 20th.
• Maryland: Baltimore streets flooded with up to 7 feet of water from the storm-swollen Chesapeake Bay.
• Washington D.C.: Shut down for 2 days and cut power to 5.5 million homes and businesses.
• Virginia: Nine deaths - more than any other state. Six motorists died here, as did two people hit by trees and a man who died when his canoe capsized.
• North Carolina:
  
  
  • Kitty Hawk: At least three fishing piers crumbled into the surf and about 25 oceanfront homes were destroyed or ripped from their foundations. On the only highway through the 120-mile barrier islands, long stretches were simply erased, or left pocked with asphalt craters. Near the famed Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, Isabel's storm surge tore a new inlet that stranded 300 residents and floated at least one house into the Pamlico Sound. Authorities were still working to account for all of the 4,000 coastal residents who refused to evacuate.
  • Harlowe: 30 homes destroyed in the inland community.
  • Morehead City: 1 killed here. 400 or 500 houses with flood damage. Mill Creek also suffered extensive road flooding. East part of Carteret County hit hard & west had minimal damage. The city's old number two fire station near Camp Glenn had the flat portion of its roof lifted up and suffered some damage.
  • Cape Hatteras: Highway 12 is entirely flooded in spots in Dare County, covered with sand, debris and downed power lines. Hatteras Island was severely damaged with homes and businesses destroyed by the sea.
  • Elizabeth City: On September 18th, 2003 Hurricane Isabel passes approximately 50 miles to the west while moving north-northwest. Isabel approximately 85mph at its passage, downing many trees & virtually all of Elizabeth City was without power. Scores of downed trees, snapped power lines and at least one death left a testament to the fury of the storm. And some residents might not see power restored for two weeks, officials said. A 25-year-old woman, Angelique Jones, was killed on Carl Drive, a street in the Cape Colony subdivision, when a tree fell on her Honda Passport at about 1:30 p.m. 5 injured from flying glass at evacuation shelter.
  
  

Hurricane Juan, Nova Scotia, September 28th & 29th (est. 100mph, category 2, by CHC & NHC)

• Halifax, Nova Scotia: A tree was uprooted and crushed an ambulance killing a paramedic near the Camp Hill Hospital. Hundreds of Maritimers in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island lost power. There were two direct deaths associated with Juan due to falling trees. In addition, three indirect deaths occurred in a house fire speculated to have been started by candles during power outages. Halifax Harbor recorded an all time record water level of 4.9 feet above the normal tide levels, which resulted in extensive flooding of the Halifax and Dartmouth waterfront properties. The building where the Canadian Hurricane Centre (CHC) is located was also damaged.
• Dartmouth, Nova Scotia: Occupants of a fifth-floor Dartmouth apartment were trapped when a portion of their ceiling collapsed shortly before 1 a.m. The winds caused considerable damage to ferry terminals on both sides of the harbor. In the main Dartmouth terminal, the water was up to escalators.

Tropical Storm Larry, October 5th, well east of Veracruz, Mexico

• State of Tabasco, Mexico: Floods cover more than 7,400 acres of banana plantations.

Tropical Storm Odette

• Barahona Peninsula, Dominican Republic: 8 killed by flood waters.