1985 — Oct 27-31, Hurricane/Tropical Storm Juan, Gulf of Mexico, especially LA — ~17

lornajarrettblanchard October 27, 1985

— 63 NCDC. “Hurricane Juan, October 1985.” Billion-Dollar Weather/Climate Disasters.[1]

— 17 Blanchard tally based on State breakouts below.[2]

— 12 Case. “Annual Summary. Atlantic Hurricane Season of 1985.” MWR, V14, 7-1986, 1398.

–9 Toppled oil rigs and oil rig boats lost at sea.

— 12 Clark, Gilbert B. Preliminary Report. Hurricane Juan, 26 October-1 November 1985. P.3.

Florida ( 1)

— 1 Tampa vicinity, Oct 31. Vehicular accident; male, 32, lost control of car, rain-slick hwy.[3]

Louisiana (15)

— 15 Longshore. Encyclopedia of Hurricanes, Typhoons…Cyclones (New Ed.). 2008, p. 279.[4]

— 11 Clark, Gilbert B. Preliminary Report. Hurricane Juan, 26 October-1 November 1985. P.3.

— 11 NCDC, NOAA. Storm Data. Vol. 27, No. 10, Oct 1985, pp. 23-24.

–6 Night of Oct 27-28. Coastal and offshore waters.

–1 Oct 27, 23:15. Drowning; oil rig rescue pod capsizes; male crewman, 49.

–2 Oct 27, 18:00. Drowning; off Miss Agnes on rescue mission; males.

–1 Oct 27, 13:00. St. Bernard Parish, Violet. Drowning; male, 21, fall from boat.

–1 Oct 27, 22:00. Plaquemine Parish coastal waters. Sybil 1 crewman overboard.

–1 Oct 27. St. Mary Parish, Atchafalaya Bay. Kiwi sinks; male, 45, drowns.

–3 Oct 29, ~01:00. Jack-up rig A. M. Howard capsizes. Drownings; males, 23, 30, 33.

–1 Oct 30, St. Tammany Parish, Slidell. Male, 46, missing, presumed drowned, marsh.

–1 St. Landry Parish, Arnaudville. Electrocution, male, 21, stepped on submerged line.

Texas ( 1)

— 1 Drowning; boating accident off coast. Clark. Preliminary Report. Hurricane Juan. P. 3.

Causes of Death

Drownings (>12)

Building failure (> 1)

Vehicle accidents (> 2)

Unknown ( 2)

Narrative Information

“Lafourche Parish Coastal Waters: Around 2315CST on October 27^th, a PENROD Company rig collapsed 35 miles south of Leeville and was smashed into a nearby rig by hurricane force winds and 20 foot seas. 80 crewmen evacuated into rescue pods. Unfortunately, one rescue capsule overturned and a 49 year old crewman drowned. The remaining crew were rescued by the Coast Guard; two crewmen were hospitalized with injuries.

“Terrebonne Parish: An 8 foot storm surge moved through Cocodrie during the evening of October 27^th, tossing a shrimp boat 60 feet onto a highway; parked cars were moved 100 feet by the surge. Later that evening, the surge moved a Dulac home off its foundation and into the middle of a highway. An eyewitness account told of a roaring tidal wave rapidly moving across the marsh before colliding with a local 10 foot high, 3 mile long levee at Montegut. A 100 yard section of the levee failed and homes were flooded with up to 4 feet of water around 0200CST, October 28^th. The surge continued up Bayou Terrebonne, flooding about 80 homes and 6 businesses in eastern Houma with waist deep water around 1430CST, October 29^th. There was extensive flooding of low-lying, unprotected crop land. This caused heavy damage to the sugar and soybean crop. About 200 cattle drowned; thousands were stranded by flood waters. Overall, 800 homes were flooded; 15,000 people were left homeless.

“Terrebonne Parish Coastal Waters: The Miss Agnes sank while conducting rescue operation 60 miles south of Morgan City at around 1800CST, October 27^th. Two crewmen are missing and presumed dead….

St. Bernard: A 5 to 6 foot storm surge inundated Yscloskey, Alluvial City, Hopedale and Delacroix by 1800CST, October 27^th. 500 people were forced to flee. A 21 year old Violet man drowned at 1300CST, October 27^th when he fell out of his boat into a canal….

Plaquemine Parish Coastal Waters: A crewman was washed overboard from the Sybil 1 after it lost power and went aground on the jetty of the southwest pass of the Mississippi River at around 2200CST, October 27^th. Three crewmen were seriously injured during an attempted rescue off an ARCO platform near the mouth of the Mississippi River when 40 MPH wids blew their rescue basket against the rig as a helicopter tried to hoist hem aboard on October 30^th. Two men had broken backs; one had a broken leg….

“St. Mary Parish Coastal Waters: A 45 year old fisherman drowned during the night of October 27^th hen the Kiwi sank in Atchafalaya Bay.

“St. Landry Parish: A 21 year old Arnauldville man was electrocuted after he stepped on a submerged power line….” (NCDC, NOAA. Storm Data. Vol. 27, No. 10, Oct 1985, pp. 23-24.)

Sources

Case, Robert A. (National Hurricane Center, NWS, NOAA, Miami, FL). “Annual Summary. Atlantic Hurricane Season of 1985.” Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 14, July 1986, pp. 1390-1405. Accessed 6-21-2014 at: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/hurdat/mwr_pdf/1985.pdf

Clark, Gilbert B. Preliminary Report. Hurricane Juan, 26 October-1 November 1985. Miami, FL: National Hurricane Center, NWS, NOAA, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, circa 1985. Accessed 6-21-2014 at: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/storm_wallets/atlantic/atl1985-prelim/juan/prelim01.gif and: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/storm_wallets/atlantic/atl1985-prelim/juan/prelim03.gif

Longshore, David. Encyclopedia of Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclones (New Edition). New York, NY: Facts on File, 2008.

National Climatic Data Center. “Hurricane Juan, October 1985.” Billion-Dollar Weather / Climate Disasters. NCDC, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce. Accessed 6-22-2014 at: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/events

National Climatic Data Center, NOAA. Storm Data. Vol. 27, No. 10, Oct 1985. Asheville; NC: NCDC, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce. Accessed 6-21-2014 at: http://www.webcitation.org/6P0sbE0Xg

United Press International, Huntsville, Ala. “Juan fades over northern Alabama.” Hutchinson News, KS, 11-2-1985, p. 8. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=160813809&sterm

Wikipedia. “1985 Atlantic hurricane season.” 4-22-2014. modification. Accessed 6-21-2014 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_Atlantic_hurricane_season

[1] Notes dates between Oct 27 and 31 and “Category 1 hurricane—Louisiana and Southeast U.S. – severe flooding.” The figure of 63 deaths, however, must include fatalities in WV, VA, MD and PA that occurred in early November (mostly Nov 4-5) due to remnants of Juan mixing with other storm systems. (See separate file on this flood event.)

[2] We know from Clark (NWS) and the NCDC that there were 11 drowning deaths in LA. We also know there was one drowning death in TX, and we know of one traffic fatality in FL. If Longshore is correct that there were 15 deaths in LA from building failures, drownings and vehicle accidents (without providing a numerical breakout), then there would be seventeen fatalities in all.

[3] Victim identified as John C. O’Neil of Attleboro, MA. (UPI, Huntsville, Ala. “Juan fades over northern Alabama.” Hutchinson News, KS, 11-2-1985, p. 8.)

[4] “In Louisiana, where Juan initially came ashore as a moderate Category 1 hurricane on October 26, 15 people were killed in building failures, automobile accidents, and drownings.” We know that eleven were drowning deaths. If Longshore is correct, we must assume that there was at least one building failure fatality and one vehicle accident fatality, which gives us 13 identifiable fatalities. We do not know the cause of death of the other two fatalities.