Hurricane Isabel was the worst hurricane of 2003, and caused the most damage cost wise. It was the ninth tropical storm, fifth hurricane and second major hurricane of the season.

Hurricane Isabel was formed from a tropical wave on September 6 th in the Atlantic Ocean.

The storm started to move northwest ward within an environment of light winds and warm waters, which strengthened it to reach wind speeds of 165 miles per hour on the eleventh of September.

Click Here for a Free Estimate on Hurricane Shutters for your Home or Business!

After changing it's intensity for several days, Isabel gradually started to weaken and eventually made landfall on the banks of North Carolina.

When it did, it had wind speeds of 105 miles per hour, but quickly weakened over land and became an extra tropical storm while it was over western Pennsylvania.

When Hurricane Isabel was in North Carolina , the storm surge washed out some of Hatteras Island , and it formed what is now unofficially known as Isabel Inlet.

The most amount of damage was along the Outer banks where a lot of homes were mostly destroyed. Virginia though suffered the worst effects, as they reported the most deaths and damage from Hurricane Isabel.

Damage ranging from moderate to severe was up and down the Atlantic Coastline and as far in land as West Virginia.

If that wasn't bad enough, nearly 6 million people had no power in the eastern United States , mainly from the strong winds.

The rainfall from the storm extended from Maine to South Carolina and towards Michigan . Isabel caused damages that totaled to be about $3.6 billion in 2003 dollars.

Approximately sixteen people died in seven states that were directly related to the hurricane and 35 deaths in six states and one province that were indirectly related to the hurricane.

Hurricane Isabel caused the governors of Pennsylvania , Maryland , West Virginia , Delaware and New Jersey to declare a state of emergency. In fact, Isabel was the first hurricane that threatened the Mid-Atlantic States and the South since Floyd in 1999.

The greatest damage that Isabel did was flood damage with the worst of it in some areas of Virginia . Overall, more then 60 million people were affected in one way or another by Hurricane Isabel.

Hurricane Isabel Video