One day during the memorable Atlantic hurricane season of 1995, an exasperated forecaster sighed to his colleagues at the National Hurricane Center: "Let's face it, this time the Atlantic won."
The June-through-November season was the busiest in more than 60 years: 11 hurricanes, eight tropical storms, 121 killed, $7.7 billion in damage - 36 killed and $5 billion in damage in the United States."It was all a bit overwhelming," said Bob Burpee, the new director of the hurricane center, who took the job in July. "We had to learn a lot of things very quickly."
When Burpee started, Hurricane Allison had already swept ashore on the Florida Panhandle. The earliest hurricane to hit Florida did light damage and foreshadowed more serious problems.
By the end of July, a virtual hurricane assembly line started in the tropical region west of Africa known as "hurricane alley."
The onslaught of storms, unmatched since 21 formed in 1933, battered the islands of the eastern Caribbean, assaulted both Florida coasts, and battered the Yucatan Peninsula and Guatemala. Hurricane Felix meandered off the mid-Atlantic coast, drowning August vacationers in savage riptides.
In one frantic period in late August, forecasters tracked three Atlantic hurricanes at one time, while watching more storms brewing daily. During a 50-day period, the center was tracking a named storm every day.
"I can't believe it," veteran forecaster Max Mayfield groused at the time. "I keep looking for the on-off switch and I can't find it."
Hurricanes Marilyn and Luis did the most damage to the islands this year. St. Thomas, St. John, St. Maarten and Dominica are still struggling to recover.
Cruise ships are starting to return to resort areas, although many island residents are still homeless, unemployed or both. About 200 yachts still rest on the bottom of the bay at St. Maarten and some major hotels there and on St. Thomas won't reopen for the winter tourist season.
Dominica, now getting millions of dollars in foreign aid, was savaged by both hurricanes, losing 90 percent of its crucial banana plantations to Luis. Two weeks later, Marilyn finished off what was left.