A Hellion Hell-Bent

Betsy was one of the fiercest hellions of them all. Screaming in from the Atlantic, she feinted at the Bahamas and Cuba, veered toward the Carolinas, doubled back again--and stopped teasing. When she did, she exacted a death toll that was expected to go as high as 200.

The hurricane, after hurling 140-m.p.h. winds and massive tides into the Bahamas, blew into the southern tip of Florida, where thousands of tourists and residents fled inland. Winds and the highest tides to hit the state since 1926 flooded buildings, ruined crops, disrupted utility services, splintered boats and shattered waterfronts. In a brave attempt to keep guests from fleeing, luxury hotels in soaked Miami Beach threw cheer-up parties.

Then, battering northwest into the Gulf of Mexico, Betsy hurtled full-blast into Louisiana and Mississippi. In the Delta lowlands, where Audrey in 1957 took 518 lives in one Louisiana parish, 250,000 refugees sought shelter in schools and churches. The Delta was even more seriously hurt than the Miami area. Overall, property damage was estimated at $500 million.

Betsy's 90-mile-wide eye passed over New Orleans, nearly half of which is below sea level. Canal dikes burst, sending cascades 8 ft. to 14 ft. deep through the streets. Army and National Guard amphibious craft cruised about picking up trapped householders from roofs and attics. One man paddled to safety girdled by an inner tube. Telephone service and power distribution blacked out. Scores of boats, from big freighters to cabin cruisers, ran aground or broke up. As the floods receded, they left a soggy jumble of ruined cars, fallen trees and utility lines, splintered glass and timber. Sobbed one homeless house wife: "Everything is gone. I don't even have a pair of shoes."

At week's end, as the hurricane knocked itself out over the Mississippi Valley, the Weather Bureau announced that the name Betsy, used once before as a storm designation, will be retired for at least ten years "because of this hurricane's infamy."

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