WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — As Hurricane Melissa strengthened to a Category 5 storm on Monday, drawing closer to Jamaica, the impacts could cause catastrophic flooding and damage.
Melissa intensifies to Category 5 on path to slam into Jamaica as island’s strongest recorded storm
Melissa would be the strongest hurricane in recorded history to directly hit the nation. While the storm isn’t expected to drastically impact the U.S., residents in the DMV area may be wondering if there’s ever been a storm like this in the area.
Residents in Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia have felt the impacts of severe weather, sometimes as a result of hurricanes off the eastern shore.
Out of all the named storms, most haven’t hit the region directly. However, the timeline below shows which named hurricanes came within 150 miles of the D.C. area, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
From 1861 to now, only four recorded hurricanes have made it within 60 miles of D.C. All four were too early to have been named, dating from 1876-1933.
The DMV area has yet to be directly hit by a Category 5 hurricane, the closest was a Category 2 back in 1878, and the largest in the offshore area only ever got up to a Category 3.
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