Hurricane Frederic

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**Hurricane Frederic**
Frederic before landfall
Duration	Aug. 29 - Sept. 15, 1979
Highest winds	130 mph (210 km/h) sustained
Damages	$4-8 billion (2005 dollars)
Fatalities	5 direct
Areas affected	Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Florida Panhandle, Alabama, Mississippi, most of eastern North America
Part of the 1979 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Frederic in 1979 was the one of the costliest hurricanes to ever hit the U.S. Gulf Coast. Damage estimates vary from $1-3 billion, with variations due to inadequate reporting of private insurance claims as well as lack of hard data on uninsured damage. FEMA, which had been established only three months before Frederic hit, was the focal point for nearly $250 million in federal aid for recovery, $188 million of which went to Alabama.

1 Storm history
2 Impact
- 2.1 Aftermath
- 2.2 Retirement
3 External links and sources

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Storm history

Frederic, only the third hurricane given a masculine name, originated as a tropical depression off the west coast of Africa on August 29. It developed an eye on September 1 , but was briefly weakened when it crossed paths with Hurricane David. Regaining strength, Frederic passed over Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, then suddenly turned northwest during the afternoon of September 5. It passed just west of Santo Domingo on September 6. It weakened again, eventually regaining tropical storm strength 100 miles (160 km) east of Cuba's Isle of Youth on September 9. It grew to hurricane intensity a day later, as it moved away from the western tip of Cuba, and headed towards the Gulf Coast.

Frederic came ashore on September 13 with winds reaching 130 mph (210 km/h) at Dauphin Island Bridge, near the mouth of Mobile Bay. An hour later, it hit the coastline just west of Mobile, Alabama, near the state's border with Mississippi.

Frederic continued north and northeast, downgraded to a tropical storm near Meridian, Mississippi. The eye passed across Birmingham, Alabama on its way northeast. Remnants of the storm crossed the southwest corner of Pennsylvania on September 14 and moved rapidly northeastward through Pennsylvania, New York, and western New England during the day. By evening, it exited from northern Maine; managing to bring more than three inches (80 mm) of rain to southern Québec.

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Impact

Anywhere from 250,000 to 350,000 people in the U.S. were evacuated in advance of Frederic. Its sustained winds were clocked at 132 mph (210 km/h), classifying Frederic as a category 4 storm (which is disputed - many classify it as a Category 3 at 130 mph). Its intensity at landfall, based on barometric pressure readings of 27.94 inches of mercury (946 mbar or 94.6 kPa), rank it in the top 25 among U.S. hurricanes in the 20th century. Storm tides of eight to 12 feet above normal were reported from Pascagoula, Mississippi to western Santa Rosa Island, Florida. Five people were killed by the storm and its aftermath.

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Aftermath

Eleven counties in Alabama, sixteen in Mississippi, and five in Florida were declared eligible for disaster aid.

In retrospect, Frederic has been credited with spurring redevelopment in Mobile and the surrounding Gulf Coast region. For example, in testimony before Congress in 1992, Robert Sheets (then the director of the National Hurricane Center), described the economic aftermath of Frederic:

Prior to Hurricane Frederic, there was one condominium complex on Gulf Shores, Alabama. Most of the homes were single, individual homes built behind the sand dunes. ... Today, where there used to be one condominium, there are now 104 complexes – not units, complexes – on Gulf Shores, Alabama.

Some of that development takes advantage of federal government's largesse. Dauphin Island, for example, got $32 million to rebuild the bridge destroyed by Frederic, in spite of warnings from FEMA that it would encourage development. The prediction was accurate: an island that suffered $7 million in property damage due to Frederic was host to over a quarter billion dollars in property by 2000. Since then, the barrier island has been struck by four hurricanes and has received millions more in federal disaster aid. Even the relatively weak Hurricane Georges destroyed 41 houses on the island; with help from the federal government, all their owners rebuilt. In August 2005 the island was again swept clear by Hurricane Katrina.

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