Frances and Jeanne in Melbourne, September 2004
Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne came ashore at the same spot on Hutchinson Island three weeks apart in September 2004. Jeanne's strongest sustained wind measured anywhere, 79 knots, was recorded at the National Weather Service office in Melbourne.
Two hurricanes came ashore at the same place three weeks apart in September 2004: Frances, just after midnight on September 5, and Jeanne, around midnight on the night of September 25 to 26. Both landed on the southern end of Hutchinson Island near Stuart, about 65 miles south of Melbourne. Frances was a Category 2 at landfall and Jeanne a Category 3, and both centers then crossed the peninsula south and west of Melbourne.
Melbourne also has a particular place in the record of both storms, because the National Weather Service office that covers east central Florida is here. Its readings, and those from Melbourne International Airport, appear in the National Hurricane Center’s reports on each storm, which are the source for everything below.
| Frances | Jeanne | |
|---|---|---|
| Florida landfall | About 0430 UTC September 5 (12:30 a.m. EDT) | 0400 UTC September 26 (midnight EDT) |
| Strength at landfall | Category 2, 90 knots, 960 mb | Category 3, 105 knots, 950 mb |
| Rain at the Melbourne weather office | 8.11 inches | 6.12 inches |
| Melbourne airport, peak wind | Gust of 63 knots (incomplete record) | 52 knots sustained, gust of 68 knots, before the wind equipment failed |
| Melbourne airport, rain | 7.95 inches (incomplete record) | 6.04 inches |
Frances, September 5
Frances was slow. It had weakened from a Category 4 to a Category 2 crossing the Bahamas, crept westward across the Gulf Stream as its steering currents weakened, and then moved slowly west-northwest across the peninsula, not reaching the Gulf until early on September 6. For Melbourne that meant a long day of wind and rain rather than a quick blow.
The Melbourne weather office logged 8.11 inches of rain, and the airport’s lowest pressure was 995.9 millibars on the afternoon of September 5. The office estimated the ocean surge at about 6 feet around Cocoa Beach and 8 feet near Vero Beach, the stretches of barrier island on either side of Melbourne’s own beaches.
Jeanne, September 25 to 26
Jeanne was the stronger storm, and Melbourne got more of it. The highest sustained surface wind reported anywhere in Jeanne was 79 knots, about 91 mph, at the National Weather Service office in Melbourne, at 0818 UTC on September 26, when the center was already inland about 45 nautical miles to the southwest. At the airport, the wind equipment failed during or before the height of the storm, after recording 52 knots sustained and a gust of 68.
The report puts a band of 11 to 13 inches of rain along the eyewall’s track over Osceola, Brevard and Indian River counties, and estimates a storm surge of up to 6 feet above normal tides on the coast from around Melbourne south to Fort Pierce. Hurricane-force sustained winds covered a swath about 90 nautical miles wide, from near Cape Canaveral south to near Stuart.
Jeanne killed three people directly in Florida. One was in Brevard County: a man drove his truck onto a flooded road, and the current carried it into a drainage canal, where he drowned.
Federal help
Brevard County was named in FEMA’s major disaster declarations for both storms: number 1545 for Frances, declared September 4 before the storm reached land, and number 1561 for Jeanne, declared September 26. Both covered individual assistance for households and public assistance for local governments.
For the 2004 storms as Palm Bay saw them, see Old Palm Bay. For the county’s longer storm record, see the Old Space Coast hurricane history.
Further Reading
Sources
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