Hurricane Carmen was the most intense tropical cyclone of the 1974 Atlantic hurricane season. A destructive and widespread storm, Carmen originated as a tropical disturbance that traveled westward from Africa, spawning a tropical depression east of the Lesser Antilles on August 29. Moving through the Caribbean Sea, it quickly strengthened to a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale, and made landfall on the Yucatán Peninsula. It turned north into the Gulf of Mexico, re-intensified, and made a second landfall in the marshland of southern Louisiana, dissipating over eastern Texas on September 10. Tropical cyclone watches and warnings had been issued for the storm, and around 100,000 residents left their homes and sought shelter. Damage was lighter than first feared, but the sugar industry suffered substantial losses. The hurricane killed eight people and caused damage valued at $162 million. The name Carmen was retired from the list of Atlantic tropical cyclone names in 1975. (Full article...)