Hurricane Hanna (2008)

Hurricane Hanna
Hanna at peak intensity over the Turks and Caicos Islands on September 1
Meteorological history
FormedAugust 28, 2008
ExtratropicalSeptember 7, 2008
DissipatedSeptember 12, 2008
Category 1 hurricane
1-minute sustained (SSHWS/NWS)
Highest winds85 mph (140 km/h)
Lowest pressure977 mbar (hPa); 28.85 inHg
Overall effects
Fatalities~537 total
Damage$160 million (2008 USD)
Areas affectedPuerto Rico, Turks and Caicos Islands, Bahamas, Hispaniola, Eastern Seaboard, Atlantic Canada
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Part of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Hanna was a moderately powerful but deadly tropical cyclone that caused extensive damage across the Western Atlantic, mostly in the Turks and Caicos Islands and the East Coast of the United States. The eighth named storm and fourth hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season. It formed east-northeast of the northern Leeward Islands on August 28. Initially, the storm struggled to intensify due to moderate wind shear as it moved westwards towards the Bahamas. By August 31, Hanna had drifted southwards and began intensifying while over the Bahamas; it attained its peak intensity as a Category 1 hurricane while over the Turks and Caicos Islands. Due to the outflow of the nearby Hurricane Gustav, Hanna weakened back into a tropical storm the next day as it began to drift northwestwards towards the Southeastern United States. The storm struck Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, before moving up the Eastern Seaboard to become an extratropical cyclone as it moved by New England into Atlantic Canada early on September 7. The system raced across the North Atlantic, sweeping west of Great Britain on September 10 before turning north and becoming absorbed by a stronger extratropical cyclone between Iceland and Greenland late on September 12.

At least 537 deaths were reported (the final death toll will likely never be known), mostly due to flooding in the northern part of Haiti. Hanna also caused $160 million in damages to the U.S., but the exact damage in Haiti is unknown. Despite the high number of deaths caused by the hurricane, the name Hanna was not retired.