Hurricane Frederic was the sixth tropical cyclone, third hurricane and second major hurricane of the 1979 Atlantic hurricane season. Frederic was the costliest hurricane to ever hit the U.S. Gulf Coast at that particular time. Starting with heavy rains and moderate winds over the Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico, Frederic weakened to tropical-storm force across Cuba, regaining hurricane force in the Gulf of Mexico well before landfall in Alabama on the night of September 12, 1979, at Dauphin Island. By that time it had 125 mph (201 km/h) winds and storm surge of 8–12 ft (2-4.7 m). Frederic crossed the state line, slowing to a tropical storm near Meridian, Mississippi.
Damage estimates vary from $6–9 billion (2008 USD), 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 (1979 USD).
Read more about Hurricane Frederic: Meteorological History, Preparations, Aftermath
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“Thought and beauty, like a hurricane or waves, should not know conventional, delimited forms.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)