Tag: Hurricane

The 1915 Hurricane

This weather event did not happen in my book. But, I’m positive Bill overheard his father Woodrow and his Uncle Eustace talk about it. An unnamed category 3 hurricane hit Grand Isle, Louisiana on September 29, 1915. Grand Isle is due south of New Orleans, as the crow flies. Overland, you have to travel northwest along Louisiana 1 through Lockport and Mathews to US 90. Then east to the Big Easy. While in the Gulf of Mexico, the winds rated the hurricane a category 4.

The storm caused thirteen million dollars in damage and killed 275 people. The damage total is in 1915 dollars and is not adjusted for today’s inflation rate. In 1915, ships in the path of the storm were the only way to get meteorological data. Satellites in the sky tracking the storm weren’t imaginable back then. The storm began outside the primary shipping lanes, making early data hard to pinpoint. When it reached the Gulf and aligned itself with the shipping lanes, the data poured in. In the afternoon of September 29, the rising storm surge inundated the low-lying lands of Louisiana and areas next to Lake Pontchartrain. Western New Orleans flooded. Flood waters remained for up to four days in some areas. The surge of water crested between fifteen and twenty feet, a record for the region.

1915 Hurricane Car Barn

The high winds damaged almost every building in New Orleans. They demolished part of the French Market. The storm destroyed over 8000 telephone poles. The Presbyterian Church on Lafayette Square collapsed. The clock at the St. Louis Cathedral stopped at 5:50 p.m. The Times-Picayune building was damaged. In Leeville, only one house survived the storm. Winds blew down telephone wires in Morgan City. Many oyster boats sustained damaged in Plaquemines Parish, crippling the local economy. This was the deadliest hurricane to hit Louisiana until Betsy came along in 1965. Read about it in The Violent Mood Swings of Hurricane Betsy chapter in Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure.

For more information on this unnamed hurricane, click here.

* * *

What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book is open on my Kindle. I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read a variety of authors and topics. Currently, I’m reading the Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael series. I finished reading The Hermit of Eyton Forest. My review is on Goodreads and Amazon. Next week I’m moving on to book fifteen, The Confession of Brother Haluin.

Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure is available on Amazon, as an eBook, and in physical formats. It is also available on the Barnes and Noble website.

A History of Hurricanes

With Houston and the Texas coast cleaning up after Hurricane Harvey, and Florida and Georgia preparing for Hurricane Irma, I was surprised to see another hurricane make it onto my radar. On September 9, 1965, Hurricane Betsy hit Louisiana causing 75 fatalities. The hurricane barreled its way past Baton Rouge as it headed north and fizzled out. In my forthcoming book, I spent a whole chapter with Hurricane Betsy and its effects on my fictional town of Bayou Cove. Even your fictional towns do get real weather from time to time. When you add weather to your story, it gives your characters something else to overcome, something they can’t control, only deal with the aftermath.

Another piece of Louisiana history happened today. Eighty-two years ago, Governor Huey P. Long died after being shot by Dr. Carl Wiess two days earlier. Although neither of them makes an appearance in my book, the governor’s brother Earl does. Earl was governor of Louisiana three different times. He has an interesting, and frustrating, interview on The News of Louisiana.

And your final history lesson for today comes, once again, from the weather. Way back on September 11, 1722, an unnamed hurricane was the first recorded storm to hit Lousiana. It struck destroyed New Orleans. According to the Internet, every building in the new city was destroyed. Hurricane force winds lasted for fifteen hours. Four large ships were thrown aground during the storm. Thanks to the journal of Diron D’Artaguiette, and David Ludlum’s book Early American Hurricanes 1492-1870, we have this account. After all, history doesn’t write itself. Read more about the hurricane of 1722 here.

* * *

What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book I have my nose in. I may not be a published author yet, but I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read. I’m currently reading The Paladin Caper by Patrick Weeks. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.