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In the 1850 Atlantic hurricane season, three significant tropical cyclones affected land. Records of other storms are incomplete, since the Atlantic hurricane database goes back only to 1851. The first system struck North Carolina in July, causing significant damage before battering the Mid-Atlantic states. Rivers were flooded from Baltimore to northern New England, and 20 people were killed along the Schuylkill River. In August, a strong hurricane hit Havana, Cuba, before making landfall on the Florida Panhandle with an enormous storm surge. Coastal flooding was severe around Apalachicola. Abundant precipitation fell from Georgia through Virginia; one river swelled more than 20 feet (6 m) above its normal height. The storm toppled a railroad bridge near Halifax, North Carolina. Offshore, a pilot boat collided with a larger ship in the rough seas and sank. Considered the worst storm in nearly 30 years in the tidewater region of Virginia, the cyclone briefly reentered the Atlantic off New Jersey before making landfall over New England, with strong winds and moderate to heavy rains. In September, a hurricane brushed the coastline from New York to Cape Cod with gusty winds and appreciable rainfall, and later struck Atlantic Canada. (Full article...)
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