During the later portions of the 19th century, the Georgia coast was ravaged by several major hurricanes; including a cat-3 in late August 1893 which drowned 1500-2000 and produced the 2nd highest storm surge of record in Charleston. Many of those who perished died on Georgia's Tybee Island which reportedly went underwater from a 17' foot storm surge. Only five years later, an even more powerful hurricane struck the Georgia coast near Brunswick. A recent re-evaluation by the NWS office in Jacksonville estimated the intensity as category 4 (938 mb/ 115 kts), and produced a storm surge of 19' feet in the Darien, Georgia area (the HRD "HURDAT" re-evaluation project also list this as a category 4 landfalling hurricane.

The Georgia coast is certainly not immune from a powerful hurricane, even though it hasn't happened in more than 105 years. Just as major hurricanes have returned to the Florida peninsula

the past two seasons, sooner or later a powerful hurricane will strike the Georgia coast. If folks living there are complacent and don't believe history can repeat itself, the next time could be catastrophic, because storm surge heights along the Georgia coast are historically large, due to the shallow slope offshore and the concave shape of the coast for any west or WNW moving hurricane.

PW