Yes that really was its name; however there was nothing easy about it!
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| Track of Hurricane Easy by Wikipedia |
Hurricane Easy formed in the Caribbean on September 01, 1950. It was the fifth storm of the season. The 1950, 51 and 52 hurricane names were chosen from the Joint Army/Navy Phonetic Alphabet. Next they were named female names, but now they have begun using male names for some, just to be ‘politically correct’.
Hurricane Easy entered the Gulf of Mexico on September 02, and then turned north, northwest. When it was west of Tampa, Florida, because of a ridge of a high pressure system to the north it caused the hurricane to do a counter-clockwise loop and it then strengthened to 125 mph. The entire west coast of Florida experienced hurricane force winds.
Wikipedia says, when it made landfall at or near Cedar Key on September 05, it had sustained winds of 125 mph a different report says 130 mph. But all of the older folks who lived there and survived it say it was a much stronger hurricane, they say it was a Cat 4. Considering all the damage that was done I have a tendency to believe the people who lived through it.
There is also another account of Easy that it says 1951, surely there were not two hurricanes named Easy two years in a row. They say on this site that the unofficial estimate was 160 to 200 mph. This account is more in agreement with what the people of Cedar Key experienced.
Wikipedia also says that it was the worst storm to hit Cedar Key in 70 years, and this I can agree with after all of the stories I’ve heard. I did not live here then, but some of the family did. I lived in the Florida Panhandle, and we had some pretty severe weather from the outer bands.
The eye of Easy was 18 to 25 miles in diameter and the eye hovered over this island fishing community for two and a half hours, and once again because of the ridge of high pressure to the north, she did a second loop, this time to the southeast making final landfall at Homosassa Springs, south of Cedar Key, but north of Tampa.
After it made landfall this time it turned to northward and slowly began to weaken in strength, it crossed the Georgia line on September 07 then headed northwest and dissipated over Arkansas on September 09.
Wikipedia says, that it was a well tracked storm from formation to dissipation by radar at the University of Florida, and Reconnaissance Aircraft. Easy left behind tremendous crop damage in the entire Tampa Bay area, and it destroyed the entire small fishing fleet of Cedar Key which consisted of about 100 boats and was the livelihood of this small island fishing village.
It also destroyed the roofs of 150 homes and buildings in Cedar Key alone, and 90 % of all the homes were damaged. Half of those homes were unfit for human habitation for quite some time. Many lost all of their furniture; and everything else because of water damage from heavy rains after the roofs were blown away.
During a 3 day period Cedar Key had 38.70 inches of rain, Yankeetown had as much in a 24 hour period and had a cumulative rainfall of 45.20. Easy still holds the record of being the wettest hurricane. There were two deaths indirectly related to this hurricane in Florida, these people were electrocuted. There were 27 people injured which was directly related to the storm.
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| Donax Brooms and Brushes |
My husband’s grandfather, Nard Collins was a foreman at the Fiber Factory, and he was one of the employees that were out of work for two years.
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| Fiber Factory Grandpa Collins Black Suit and Hat |
My husband’s sister Ilene Campbell and her family were one of the families that lost everything. But in time they re-built and started over again. This is what most folks who live in coastal areas do, it is just a way of life when one chooses to live and work on the water.
