Figure 2. Hurricanes Connie and Diane gave the state a double wallop in August 1955, causing 70 deaths, thousands of injuries, and hundreds of millions in property damage. It moved west-northwest for several days, reaching hurricane strength several hundred miles northeast of the Leeward Islands on the August 5, 1955. After passing north of the Leewards on the 6th, Connie turned northwestward, a motion that continued until the August 10th.

Connie was first detected as a tropical storm over the tropical Atlantic on August 3, 1955. After Connie’s heavy rains and strong winds devastated the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, she turned northwest and headed toward the East Coast of the United States. Diane’s landfall occurred just 150 miles southwest from Hurricane Connie’s point of landfall near Cape Lookout five days earlier, leaving residents of these areas with little time to prepare due to the close proximity of the two storms. Tracks of 1955 Hurricanes over eastern North Carolina. Image of flood damage to railroad tracks, Derby - Archives & Special Collections of the University of Connecticut Libraries, and Connecticut History Ilustrated. Just two days later, Connie was already a well-developed hurricane moving toward Puerto Rico. On August 3, 1955, Hurricane Connie began its formation in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. Figure 1.