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Courtesy of the Coastal Georgia Historical Society
Hurricane Dora 1
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Courtesy of the Coastal Georgia Historical Society
Hurricane Dora 2
Fifty years ago this month, Hurricane Dora roared across St. Simons Island and the Georgia coast. And Dora was no lady.
Packing winds of 125 mph, Dora–the second of four named storms to affect Florida in 1964–made landfall just north of St. Augustine on September 10. The slow moving storm then moved northward along the coast through Jacksonville.
Dora slammed ashore on St. Simons Island on September 12, where 90 mph winds and flooding rains pummeled the Island for 18 hours. The storm’s winds and 13-foot storm surge wreaked havoc along the Island’s beaches, gobbling up the shoreline, toppling hundreds of trees, destroying structures and undermining beachfront homes, including four that disappeared into the ocean. Hastily built dikes prevented the lobby of The King and Prince Hotel from being flooded. On September 13, Dora moved further up the coast. Dora caused some $250-million in damages and five deaths, mostly in Florida.
Shortly after the storm, the island had another, more welcomed visitor. President Lyndon Johnson arrived on St. Simons Island to survey the damage, remarking to a member of his party, “It’s worse than you told me.” The resulting Federal aid that followed came in the form of thousands of massive granite stones placed all along the island’s high water mark to help guard against further beach erosion. This still-standing revetment is locally referred to as the “Johnson Rocks.”
Fortunately, direct hits by hurricanes such as Dora continue to be rare for this area, thanks in part to our geographical location within what is called the “Atlantic Bight,” that places southeast Georgia within the westernmost section of the eastern seaboard.
This month’s images, from the archives of the Coastal Georgia Historical Society, show some of Hurricane Dora’s damage to Island beachfront homes and structures.
