1997 — July 18-26, Hurricane/Tropical Storm Danny, Gulf and lower East Coasts –10-12
–10-12 Blanchard tally based on State and local breakouts below.[1]
— 10 Longshore. Encyclopedia of Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclones (New Ed.). 1998, 119.
— 10 Rappaport, E. N. “Atlantic Hurricane Season of 1997,” MWR, Vol. 127, Sep 1998, 2021.
–5 Direct. –5 Indirect.
— 9 NCDC. Climate Monitoring / Climate of 1997. “Hurricane Danny.” 1-23-2009 update.
— 9 NHC/Pasch. Preliminary Report. Hurricane Danny, 16-26 July 1997.
— 4 Direct. –5 Indirect.
— 4 NCDC, NOAA. Storm Events Database.
Alabama ( 2)
— 1 Direct. July 18. Off coast near Fort Morgan. Saltwater drowning, off sailboat; male.[2]
— 1 Indirect. AL coast. Heart attack while trying to secure boat during the storm, male.[3]
— 0 NCDC. Storm Events Database. Search for Alabama “All-County C Events,” 7/18-27/1997.
Georgia (4-5)
— 5 Blanchard tally based on breakouts below.
— 4 Indirect. July 23. Storm-related traffic accidents.[4]
— 0 NCDC. Storm Events Database. Search for Georgia “All-County C Events,” 7/18-27/1997.
Breakouts:
— 3 NE GA, July 23. Vehicular; woman, 33 and her two young children.[5]
— 1 NE GA, July 23. Vehicular; female, 16, lost control of car on rain-slicked road, hits tree.[6]
— 1? July 23. Vehicular; car skidded into oncoming vehicle; male, 27.[7]
Louisiana (1?)
–1? Drowning. Longshore. Encyclopedia of Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclones (New Ed.).[8]
–0 NCDC Storm Events Database. Search for Louisiana “All-County C Events,” 7/18-27/1997.
North Carolina (3)
–3 Direct. NCDC. Storm Events Database. Flash Flood. NC. Mecklenburg. 7-23-1997.[9]
–1 Dir. Mecklenberg Co., Charlotte, July 23. Drowning; floodwater swept girl, 5, into creek.[10]
–1 Direct. Mecklenberg Co., Charlotte, July 23. Floodwater drowning; vehicular; woman, 59.[11]
–1 Direct. Mecklenberg County. Drowning, vehicular, female, 27.[12]
South Carolina (1)
–1 Direct. Lexington Co., Gaston, July 23. Tornado hits duplex; female (Trina Jackson), 32.[13]
Narrative Information
NHC (Pasch): “….Hurricane Danny made its first landfall, just northwest of the Mississippi River delta near the towns of Empire and Buras, early on 18 July. Danny was a very small hurricane, and significant effects were confined to the area immediately around the eye…. After passing over extreme southeastern Louisiana, the center of Danny was back over the Gulf of Mexico, south of the coast of Mississippi, during the day on 18 July. There was a little more strengthening, and Danny reached its peak intensity of 70 knots…The slow-moving hurricane wobbled to the east, then north-northeastward, bringing the eye to the mouth of Mobile Bay, near Fort Morgan, Alabama, just before dawn on the 19th. The eyewall and western edge of the eye passed over Dauphin Island, where sustained hurricane-force winds and torrential rains were experienced. After drifting over extreme southern Mobile Bay, the center plodded eastward, practically stalled, and finally crossed the coast on the southeast shore of the bay near Mullet Point, Alabama around midday on the 19th. Danny continued to move erratically, toward the southeast over extreme southeast Alabama, while weakening to a tropical storm by 0000 UTC on the 20th. The weakening cyclone then turned northward, passing over the extreme northwest Florida panhandle. Danny, weakened to a depression by 1800 UTC on the 20th, moved north to northeastward over Alabama for two days.
“Satellite images showed that Danny, although very weak at the surface, still had a well-defined cyclonic cloud signature as it moved eastward over northern Georgia and South Carolina on 22-23 July. The low pressure system moved east-northeastward over North Carolina on the morning of the 24th. Around midday, as the center neared the Atlantic seaboard near the North Carolina/Virginia border, the cyclone began strengthening — while accelerating in forward speed. The fact that Danny was re-intensifying while still partially over land suggests that it may have been deriving energy from a baroclinic source. A front was situated just to the north of the cyclone around this time. Winds around Danny were already back to tropical storm force as the center moved back over water around 1900 UTC on the 24th.
“Just when it looked as if it were racing safely away from the coast, the storm turned north-northeastward, and slowed dramatically, as it appeared to be drawn in toward a middle- to upper-tropospheric cyclone over the northeastern United States. This motion brought Danny to about 25 n mi southeast of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, around 0000 UTC 26 July. After buffeting southeastern Massachusetts, Danny lost its remaining tropical characteristics, and turned out to sea — for good. The cyclone was absorbed in a frontal zone over the north Atlantic by 1800 UTC on 27 July.” (NHC/Pasch)
Sources
Associated Press (Charlotte, NC). “Floodwaters kill 2 in North Carolina.” Daily News, Galveston County, TX, 7-24-1997, A10. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=110076494&sterm
Associated Press. “Hurricane Danny claims 1 life, to make landfall in gulf today.” Daily Herald, Chicago, 7-19-1997, A10. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=92200957&sterm
Associated Press. “Storms, flooding strike after Danny.” Daily News, Estherville, IA, 7-25-1997, p. 7. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=185374232&sterm=hurricane
Longshore, David. “Danny, Hurricane. Gulf of Mexico-Southern United States, July 16-27, 1997.” Encyclopedia of Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclones (New Edition). New York, NY: Facts on File, 2008, p. 119.
National Climatic Data Center, NOAA. Climate Monitoring / Climate of 1997. “Hurricane Danny.” NCDC, NOAA, Department of Commerce, 1-23-2009 update. Accessed 5-5-2014 at: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/reports/hurrdanny/hurrdanny.html
National Climatic Data Center, NOAA. Storm Events Database. Event Details…Flash Flood… North Carolina…Mecklenburg…7-23-1997. Accessed 5-12-2014 at: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents/eventdetails.jsp?id=5609226
National Climatic Data Center, NOAA. Storm Events Database. Event Details…Tornado…F2… South Carolina…Lexington….07/23/1997. Accessed 5-12-2014 at: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents/eventdetails.jsp?id=5602088
National Climatic Data Center, NOAA. Storm Events Database. Search for Louisiana “All-County C Events,” 7/18-27/1997. Accessed 5-9-2014 at: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents/listevents.jsp?beginDate_mm=07&beginDate_dd=18&beginDate_yyyy=1997&endDate_mm=07&endDate_dd=27&endDate_yyyy=1997&eventType=%28C%29+ALL&county=ALL&zone=ALL&submitbutton=Search&statefips=22%2CLOUISIANA
National Hurricane Center (Richard J. Pasch). Preliminary Report. Hurricane Danny, 16-26 July 1997. Miami, FL: NHC, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce, 8-21-1997. Accessed 5-5-2014 at: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/1997danny.html
Rappaport, Edward N. (Tropical Prediction Center, National Hurricane Center, NOAA/NWS, Miami, FL). “Atlantic Hurricane Season of 1997,” Monthly Weather Review, V. 127, Sep 1998, pp. 2012-2026. Accessed 5-9-2014 at: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/hurdat/mwr_pdf/1997.pdf
[1] Two listings have only one source and can not be verified – one in GA (vehicular) and one in LA (drowning).
[2] NHC/Pasch. Preliminary Report. Hurricane Danny, 16-26 July 1997. Date is from AP (Mobile, AL) which writes that “The first death attributed to the storm came Friday night in Fort Morgan, a beach community south of Mobile, when a deputy found a swamped sailboat on the coast with the body of an unidentified man lying in the rough surf.” (AP. “Hurricane Danny claims 1 life, to make landfall in gulf today.” Daily Herald, Chicago, 7-19-1997, A10). Rappaport. “Atlantic Hurricane Season of 1997,” MWR, V. 127, Sep 1998, 2021.
[3] NHC/Pasch. Preliminary Report… Danny; Rappaport. “Atlantic Hurricane Season of 1997,” 1998, 2021.
[4] NHC/Pasch. Preliminary Report. Hurricane Danny. Age is from AP. “Storms, flooding strike after Danny.” Daily News, Estherville, IA, 7-25-1997, p. 7; Rappaport. “Atlantic Hurricane Season of 1997,” MWR, V.127, 2021.
[5] AP. “Storms, flooding strike after Danny.” Daily News, Estherville, IA, 7-25-1997, p. 7. Article writes that their station-wagon skidded on rain-slicked road under wheels of a truck.
[6] AP. “Storms, flooding strike after Danny.” Daily News, Estherville, IA, 7-25-1997, p. 7.
[7] AP (Charlotte, NC). “Floodwaters kill 2 in North Carolina.” Daily News, Galveston County, TX, 7-24-1997, A10. Have not been able to find another source for such a fatality.
[8] Have not been able to find another source for such a fatality; possibly noting Louisiana rather than Alabama.
[9] “A cluster of thunderstorms producing very heavy rain sank…in the Charlotte metro area shortly before midnight of the 23rd and continued to redevelop over the area through mid-morning. Severe flash flooding resulted as nearly 10 inches of rain fell in some spots. Mecklenburg county officials requested that people not try to go to work or drive around. Numerous roads and bridges were washed out or damaged. A railroad trestle collapsed, dropping a locomotive 100 feet into a raging creek. Two women died after their vehicles became trapped in flood waters around 2 AM EST. A young girl perished around 9 AM EST when she went to play in the waters and was swept away.”
[10] NHC/Pasch. Preliminary Report. Hurricane Danny. Age is from AP. “Storms, flooding strike after Danny.” Daily News, Estherville, IA, 7-25-1997, p. 7, which writes that the woman drowned after her car flipped over. Also: Rappaport. “Atlantic Hurricane Season of 1997,” MWR, V. 127, Sep 1998, p. 2021.
[11] NHC/Pasch. Preliminary Report. Hurricane Danny, 16-26 July 1997.
[12] Rappaport. “Atlantic Hurricane Season of 1997,” MWR, V. 127, Sep 1998, p. 2021. Age is from NCDC.
[13] NHC/Pasch. Preliminary Report. Hurricane Danny, 16-26 July 1997. Age, date, name and locality are from: AP. “Storms, flooding strike after Danny.” Daily News, Estherville, IA, 7-25-1997, p. 7; Rappaport. “Atlantic Hurricane Season of 1997,” MWR, V. 127, Sep 1998, p. 2021; NCDC. Storm Events Database. Tornado. SC. Lexington.