On Saturday, September 4, 1965, the entire East Coast of the United States was nervously awaiting the next move of Hurricane Betsy.
The storm had formed on August 27th, spotted by the TIROS satellite east of Barbados. Navy reconnaissance confirmed that the system had intensified into a tropical storm that night and it was named Betsy. It passed through the Lesser Antilles with little ill effect and exited the Caribbean near Puerto Rico. Once north of the islands, Betsy intensified into a hurricane and seemed destined to pass out to sea. But the Bermuda High made an unexpected westward ridging over the western Atlantic and blocked the forward progress of the storm. It spent two days wandering aimlessly before turning back toward the U.S. coast. For three days, it intensified rapidly and appeared to be headed toward the coast of the Carolinas. Winds reached 150 mph and the central pressure dropped to 27.82 inches. As high pressure intensified to the west of the hurricane, its forward progress was stopped again. It was Labor Day weekend, and vacation plans from North Carolina to the Florida Keys were suddenly on hold. On Sunday the 5th, the hurricane began to describe a small loop and started heading south toward the Bahamas. By Labor Day, September 6th, the hurricane was pounding the Bahamas, where a top wind of 147 mph was measured. The storm began turning to the west and all of South Florida was placed under a hurricane watch on the morning of the 7th. The watch was upgraded to a warning at noon and the Keys and South Florida became a beehive of activity. The powerful hurricane cross the Upper Keys near Marathon the following morning. It then moved into the Gulf of Mexico and headed toward Louisiana. Gaining strength as it moved across the Gulf, it struck southern Louisiana just before midnight on the 10th.