A History of Hurricanes

With Houston and the Texas coast cleaning up after Hurricane Harvey, and Florida and Georgia preparing for Hurricane Irma, I was surprised to see another hurricane make it onto my radar. On September 9, 1965, Hurricane Betsy hit Louisiana causing 75 fatalities. The hurricane barreled its way past Baton Rouge as it headed north and fizzled out. In my forthcoming book, I spent a whole chapter with Hurricane Betsy and its effects on my fictional town of Bayou Cove. Even your fictional towns do get real weather from time to time. When you add weather to your story, it gives your characters something else to overcome, something they can’t control, only deal with the aftermath.

Another piece of Louisiana history happened today. Eighty-two years ago, Governor Huey P. Long died after being shot by Dr. Carl Wiess two days earlier. Although neither of them makes an appearance in my book, the governor’s brother Earl does. Earl was governor of Louisiana three different times. He has an interesting, and frustrating, interview on The News of Louisiana.

And your final history lesson for today comes, once again, from the weather. Way back on September 11, 1722, an unnamed hurricane was the first recorded storm to hit Lousiana. It struck destroyed New Orleans. According to the Internet, every building in the new city was destroyed. Hurricane force winds lasted for fifteen hours. Four large ships were thrown aground during the storm. Thanks to the journal of Diron D’Artaguiette, and David Ludlum’s book Early American Hurricanes 1492-1870, we have this account. After all, history doesn’t write itself. Read more about the hurricane of 1722 here.

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book I have my nose in. I may not be a published author yet, but I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read. I’m currently reading The Paladin Caper by Patrick Weeks. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.