Hurricane Fabian
Hurricane Fabian, a Catagory 3 Hurricane, hit Bermuda at 5.55 p.m. on Friday Nov 5th 2003 with winds of 150 miles per hour.
150 mph was the highest estimate Bermuda Weather Service could give, for an hour
earlier their monitoring equipment at the Airport shorted as water surged eight
feet above sea level and they were unable to record for two hours
The South shore suffered the worst damage in more
than 1,000 years during Hurricane Fabian's onslaught.
Up to half of Bermuda's trees and vegetation will eventually perish and it
could be two years before the Island's greenery looks as it did before the
Hurricane. Fabian's storm surge did the most damage to the South shore, a
problem made worse by rising sea levels. There is erosion on the South shore
worse than anything since the last glacial era 1,200 years ago. There is cliff
and soil erosion high up on the shoreline in areas previously untouched by
storms, removing forests and thickets and leaving rocky coastline. Non-endemic
trees were hit hard while native species stood up much better.
For pictures of the damage you can go to:
Also, our friend and fellow classmate, Glen Cuoco, lives on Bermuda and has a site where he posted a few photos he took. Check it out:
As these two sites change their contents from time to time, I have picked some of the best photos they posted and copied them to this site for preservation in case they take them down. I hope this is okay with them.
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