From today's featured article Radar image of Hurricane Connie Hurricane Connie was the first of three hurricanes to strike North Carolina in 1955. It formed on August 3 in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, and killed three people in the United States Virgin Islands while passing nearby. Connie reached reported maximum sustained winds of 120 knots (140 mph, 220 km/h), making it a Category 4 hurricane, before it weakened and moved ashore on August 12. It tracked north through the Chesapeake Bay region, and was later absorbed by a cold front over Lake Huron on August 15. The hurricane caused around $86 million in damage, and at least 295,000 people nationwide lost power during the storm. In North Carolina, the storm killed 27 people. In the Chesapeake Bay, Connie capsized a boat, killing 14 people. There were also 4 deaths in Washington, D.C., 6 deaths each in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, 14 in New York, and 3 in Ontario. Connie was followed days later by Hurricane Diane, which caused $700 million in flood damage. (Full article...) Did you know ...- ... that M.O.N.T (pictured) was the first Korean idol group to film a music video on the disputed Liancourt Rocks?
- ... that the use of retentions in the British construction industry, which is now commonplace, had its origins in the Railway Mania of the 1840s?
- ... that Indian-American chef Raji Jallepalli, who is credited with "originating the fusion of classic French and Indian cuisines", originally trained as a microbiologist?
- ... that the Peleng tarsier, a small carnivorous primate, can rotate its head nearly 180 degrees in either direction?
- ... that German World War II general Heinz Guderian issued post-war apologetics for Hitler, writing that "his struggle was about Europe, even if he made dreadful mistakes and errors"?
- ... that a young Bob Smith, later famous as Wolfman Jack, got his first radio job as "Daddy Jules" at WYOU in Newport News, Virginia?
- ... that William Chapple discovered Euler's theorem and Poncelet's porism?
- ... that sculptures of rats outside the Graybar Building, near Grand Central Terminal, were included to signify New York City's role as a "great transportation centre"?
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