MARS - George Mason University

The U.S. experienced three category five hurricanes in the 20th Century 32
(Wikipedia, “Hurricane Camille - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia”). The 1935 category
five Labor Day Hurricane resulted in 400 deaths. Hurricane Camille in 1969, said to
have the highest wind speeds ever, produced 256 deaths. 33 Hurricane Andrew, the first
named storm of 1992, caused 65 deaths and massive damage. 34
35
Excluding 9/11 and the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building as
intentional acts, we count our significant man-made disasters 36
as 1) the Titanic death toll
of 1500 in 1912 (Clower 233); 2) Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island in 1979 with no
direct deaths; 3) the Alaskan Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 releasing 11,000,000 gallons
of crude oil, with no human deaths, but with wide-scale environmental damage (Chiles
309); and 4) the 2010 Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon accident, considered the largest
32
Hurricanes are measured in three separate dimensions: fatalities, costs of damages, and data related to
intensity (Senauth xii). The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale was invented in 1969:
Tropical Storm — winds 39-----73 mph
Category 1 Hurricane — winds 74------95 mph Storm Surge 4----5 ft
Category 2 Hurricane — winds 96-----110 mph Storm Surge 6----8 ft
Category 3 Hurricane — winds 111----130 mph Storm Surge 9----12 ft
Category 4 Hurricane — winds 131----155 mph Storm Surge 13---18 ft
Category 5 Hurricane — winds 156 mph with no upper limit Storm Surge 18+ ft
33
Camille missed New Orleans but killed 143 in Mississippi (Cooper and Block 47). It is considered the
only Atlantic hurricane in recorded history to make landfall at or above wind speeds of 190 mph
(Wikipedia, “Hurricane Camille - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia”). Public Law 91-79 the Disaster
Relief Act of 1969 was called the Hurricane Camille legislation. It expanded the scope of federal aid in
both public and individual assistance categories (Bourgin Ch. IV, pps. 5-6, 11).
34
U.S. scientists began naming tropical cyclones during World War II. Hurricane Bess was named in 1949
after First Lady Bess Truman. The National Weather Service began to officially name storms in 1953.
After 1979, men’s names were incorporated into the list of female designations (Ouellette 27).
35
9/11 is considered the worst fire-service disaster, killing one-third of the fire fighters (Chiles xiv).
36
The Challenger accident in 1986 and the Columbia accident in 2003 deserve mention because of their
serious impact on public confidence and morale. Furthermore, no discussion would be complete without
mention of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in New York City, which killed 146 young women in 1911
and resulted in sweeping changes in fire codes and workplace standards (Dyson 39).
28