Hurricane Earl – A Review

Hurricane Earl, which was classified as a Category four hurricane and registered howling winds of 140 miles an hour gradually let down on its fury as it tore along its course and finally made landfall at Nova Scotia, Canada on 4th September. During its journey, Earl was eventually downgraded to Category 2. Of the 2010 Atlantic Hurricane Season, Earl is supposedly the third hurricane, second major hurricane, fifth tropical storm, and seventh tropical depression. Here is an account of the effects of Earl on the different areas that came under its sway.

North Carolina

Earl hit the North Carolina coastline on 2nd September and swept the state with heavy rains and raging winds. In Cape Hatteras, the wind speed was recorded at 67 miles per hour, which was the highest in the state. Many of the roads witnessed flooding and North Carolina Highway 12 had to be shut down. Numerous homes also experienced flooding and thousands of residents had to go without power. Offshore waves reportedly swelled to heights of 25 to 36 ft. Tumultuous Seas also damaged a pier at Atlantic Beach.

New England

New England escaped most of Earl’s fury. On 3rd September, Cape Cod was grazed by Earl with the centre of the hurricane about 90 miles from Nantucket. Although, winds reached the strength of tropical storms, there was no major damage, except a few minor floods. Reports indicated that less than a thousand suffered from power outages. The highest recorded wind force was 58 miles per hour, while the highest recorded rainfall was about 5.07 inches.

Mid Atlantic

Delaware, Virginia, Maryland, and New Jersey in the Mid Atlantic experienced low to average effects of the hurricane. Large waves and tropical storms lashed areas along the coastline. The Delmarva Peninsula only suffered from some outer rainbands and gales.

Canada

On 4th September, Hurricane Earl reached ashore in Lunenberg County near Western Head, Nova Scotia at about 11 am. It came as a category 1 storm accompanied by unrelenting winds blowing at speeds of about 75 miles an hour. Waves as high as up to 82 ft and winds with hurricane like intensity were recorded in the areas just offshore. Among the onshore areas, Atlantic Canada bore the brunt of the hurricane. In Edmundston, New Brunswick, about 76.5 mm rainfall was recorded, while in Quebec, the reported rainfall was around 48.2 mm. The supposedly strongest onshore winds were recorded in Beaver Island, where winds reportedly reached the speed of 84 miles an hour. Roughly, almost all of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, pockets of western New Brunswick, most of Newfoundland, and extreme Quebec and Labrador experienced winds that raged at speeds of at least 39 miles per hour.

Earl wreaked havoc with the power sector. Overall, hundreds of thousands of residents across the breadth of Canada had to go without electricity.