Hurricane Debbie was the most powerful cyclone on record to strike Ireland in September. The fourth named storm of the 1961 Atlantic hurricane season, Debbie originated from a well-defined tropical disturbance that was first identified in late August over Central Africa. Tracking generally westward, the system moved off the coast of Senegal on September 5 into the Atlantic Ocean. On September 6, Debbie passed through the southern Cape Verde Islands as a strong tropical storm and resulted in a plane crash that killed 60 people. Thereafter its location was uncertain until September 10 and on the following day, Debbie attained its peak intensity as a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale, with maximum winds of 120 mph (195 km/h). Gradually weakening, it passed over the western Azores as a minimal hurricane on September 15 and skirted the coast of Western Ireland on September 16 as a powerful storm. It brought record winds to much of the country, with a peak gust of 114 mph (183 km/h) measured just offshore, causing widespread damage and disruption, killing 12 people (and a further 6 people in Northern Ireland) and caused US$40–50 million in damage.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Debbie_(1961)> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1671: Irish-born Colonel Thomas Blood was caught trying to steal the English Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Blood> 1873: Panic of 1873: The Vienna Stock Exchange crashed, following two years of overexpansion in the German and Austro-Hungarian economies. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1873> 1877: Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister Mihail Kogălniceanu made a speech in the Parliament that declared Romania was discarding Ottoman suzerainty. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihail_Kog%C4%83lniceanu> 1960: The United States Food and Drug Administration announced it would approve the use of Searle's Enovid for birth control, making it the first oral contraceptive pill. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_oral_contraceptive_pill> 1979: Prominent Iranian Jew Habib Elghanian was executed after having been convicted by a revolutionary tribunal of various charges, triggering a mass exodus of Jews from Iran. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habib_Elghanian> 2005: Pope Benedict XVI began the beatification process for his predecessor Pope John Paul II, waiving the standard five years required after the nominee's death. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatification_of_Pope_John_Paul_II> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: green gown: (now archaic, historical) A dress that has been stained green from rolling in the grass; generally with allusion to sexual activity, especially a woman's loss of virginity. <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/green_gown> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day: When a new baby laughs for the first time a new fairy is born, and as there are always new babies there are always new fairies. --J. M. Barrie <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._M._Barrie> _______________________________________________ Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list. To unsubscribe, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l Questions or comments? Contact [email protected]
