On this day in 1955....

[Andrew92]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Diane

If you ask me, this is the mother of all forgotten hurricanes. Check out this link from the NHC and scroll to where it mentions deadliest (page 9 according to PDF, 7 on the report) and most destructive adjusting for inflation, population, and wealth normalization (page 12 according to PDF, 11 on the report):
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/nws-nhc-6.pdf

If this storm and Agnes were to hit today, they would have caused about equal damage, with a slight edge to Diane. But Diane also killed more people. Yet, I still occasionally hear about what Agnes did, but almost never hear about what Diane did.

I would really like to know, how did this storm get forgotten when it was as horrific to the northeast as it was? Could it have been Hazel from the year before, even though Diane was still deadlier in the US?

-Andrew92

[CrazyC83]

Diane was a lot like Irene in many ways. Wasn't terribly strong as it came ashore (heck, it may have only been a tropical storm at landfall), but wet, and came off a previous wet stretch (Connie 1955, endless rain 2011).

[jinftl]

Forgotten in what sense? It is accounted for on data of costliest and deadliest storms.

Diane was 59 years ago - a young kid who experienced first hand and be able to recall it is in their mid 60's now and 20 year olds who went through Diane are approaching 80.

I think it's place hurricane is in line with where it ranks with storms that came after and more recently.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Diane

If you ask me, this is the mother of all forgotten hurricanes. Check out this link from the NHC and scroll to where it mentions deadliest (page 9 according to PDF, 7 on the report) and most destructive adjusting for inflation, population, and wealth normalization (page 12 according to PDF, 11 on the report):
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/nws-nhc-6.pdf

If this storm and Agnes were to hit today, they would have caused about equal damage, with a slight edge to Diane. But Diane also killed more people. Yet, I still occasionally hear about what Agnes did, but almost never hear about what Diane did.

I would really like to know, how did this storm get forgotten when it was as horrific to the northeast as it was? Could it have been Hazel from the year before, even though Diane was still deadlier in the US?

-Andrew92

[Andrew92]

When I think of a forgotten hurricane, I think of a storm that gets very little attention relative to the amount of death and destruction it wrought.

Diane was one of the costliest hurricanes ever to hit the Northeast, about on par with Agnes, and deadlier. Since 1950, the only other hurricanes to kill at least more people in the US than Diane have included Audrey, Camille, and Katrina, all of which I do hear at least from time to time (in Audrey's case, though of course Katrina will continue to be talked about for years). Plus, like I mentioned, Agnes still gets some chatter these days. That storm was one of the first hurricanes from before I was born that I had ever heard of inflicting a lot of damage, as I was starting to become interested in weather.

I didn't hear of Diane until much later even though I was by then I got a thrill out of the weather, let alone all of the damage it did and people it killed. According to that NHC/NOAA link I shared, Diane might only be the second worst hurricane of the 20th Century to hit that part of the country, behind the infamous 1938 hurricane (although a major part of me admittedly questions if Diane was as bad as the Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944). If any major media outlets were sharing anything on Diane in the 90s when I started really watching the weather, it was once or twice total that I saw, or I missed any documentaries there were on it. On the other hand I heard of Agnes just about every year at that time, sometimes with a brief three-to-five minute blurb on it.

Diane was a very bad storm that just doesn't seem to get the credit it deserves for what it did. Plus, it's another glaring example that it doesn't take a powerful hurricane to dump the kind of rain it caused, with the disastrous effects that accompanied it. Storms like Agnes and Allison are often talked about and indeed should serve as powerful reminders of this. However, Diane needs to be lumped into their category more often as well, in my opinion.

Fourth deadliest hurricane in the US mainland since 1950 and hardly anything heard of from this one anymore. Just my opinion, but I think that's quite forgotten.

-Andrew92