Hurricane Hazel

Hurricane Hazel

Category 4 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS)
Track map of Hurricane Hazel
Formed	October 5, 1954
Dissipated	October 17, 1954
Highest winds	1-minute sustained: 150 mph (240 km/h)
Lowest pressure	≤ 937 mbar (hPa); 27.67 inHg
Fatalities	600 - 1,200 direct
Damage	$381 million (1954 USD)
Areas affected	Grenada, Haiti, Bahamas, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Toronto and southern and eastern Ontario
Part of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Hazel was the worst hurricane of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season and one of the worst hurricanes of the 20th century. Hazel killed as many as 1,000 people in Haiti before striking the United States just south of Wilmington, North Carolina as a Category 4 hurricane. 19 people were killed in North Carolina, and 81 people were killed when it hit Toronto, Ontario. It is the strongest hurricane ever recorded to strike so far inland.