Hurricane Janet

Hurricane Janet was the most powerful hurricane of the 1955 Atlantic hurricane season. At its strongest, it was a Category 5.

Janet formed east of the Windward Islands on September 21, slamming into Grenada as a Category 3 hurricane. As it travelled west across the Caribbean Sea, it intensified, reaching a peak strength of 175 mph (280 km/h), making it one of the most intense Atlantic hurricanes on record.

Janet made landfall on the border of Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico as a Category 5, battering the town of Chetumal, Mexico. The storm moved over the Yucaton and tracked across the Gulf of Mexico and struck Tampico, Mexico.

Janet killed more than 500 people.

Janet also destroyed a U.S Weather Post on Swan Island about 400 miles west of Jamaica and caused the first loss of a Hurricane Hunter aircraft, a P2V Neptune under the command of Navy Lieutenant Commander Grover B. Windham. The aircraft flew from the airfield at Guantanamo Bay, and disappeared after signalling that it was entering the hurricane.

See also

• List of notable tropical cyclones