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Hurricane Betsy was a powerful storm of the 1965 Atlantic hurricane season, which caused enormous damage, first in southern Florida, and again in southeastern Louisiana. Betsy is on record as one of the most destructive hurricanes ever to make landfall in the United States.
Betsy formed east of the Windward Islands, and moved up the island chain as a tropical storm. After leaving the Caribbean behind, Betsy strengthened into a Category 4 storm. Betsy travelled just north of Nassau and through extreme southern Florida. Hurricane force winds were experienced in the Miami area for roughly twelve hours.
After crossing into the Gulf of Mexico, Betsy restrengthened and continued west. It made landfall at Grand Isle, Louisiana, just west of the mouth of the Mississippi River. At the time of landfall in Louisiana, Betsy's wind speeds were at 155 mi/h, one 1 mi/h short of Category 5 classification. The storm travelled upriver, causing the Mississippi at New Orleans to rise by 10 feet.
Betsy is one of the most intense, deadly, and expensive storms to ever make landfall in the United States. As already noted, it was just short of Category 5 strength at landfall in Louisiana. It killed 76 people, which makes it one of the most deadly hurricanes to hit the US (as of 2004, number 18). Betsy caused $1.42 billion in damage, which when adjusted for inflation amounts to $8.5 billion (2000 dollars), placing Betsy as the seventh most expensive storm to make landfall in the US.
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