Frederic the Fearsome

Nine deaths, more than $1 billion in damage

While Hurricane David made its deadly passage through the Caribbean two weeks ago, a successor storm named Frederic dawdled not far behind. Last week, Fred suddenly turned ugly and churned northward, forcing half a million people to flee a 100-mile stretch of the coast, from Gulfport, Miss., to Pensacola, Fla.

Worst hit was Mobile, Ala. For four hours, Frederic pummeled the city with winds of up to 130 m.p.h. and tides 12 ft. above normal. The hurricane swept a freighter onto a pier in Mobile Bay and blew a DC-3 half a mile from a hangar to a road, where it landed upside down with its tail curled around its fuselage. Frederic uprooted century-old oak trees and heavily damaged historic buildings along Government Street. It tore the roofs off houses on the nearby resort of Dauphin Island and carried away most of the eight-mile causeway to the mainland. Lamented one Mobile resident: "Landmarks we have known for years just aren't here any more."

Because of the prompt evacuation, the death toll was low: only nine people were known to have died. But many survivors had hair-raising close calls. Ervin Nordmann rushed ahead of the storm to board up his beach house at Gulf Shores, only to be forced to spend the night there when his car would not start. After the howling winds moved on, Nordmann discovered that his house was one of only three still standing out of the 40 that once lined the beach.

Officials estimated that Frederic caused $1 billion in property damage in the Mobile area alone. In addition, the hurricane destroyed Alabama's pecan crop and knocked out electric power in the southwest part of the state for at least a week.

The next morning, as the sun came out, so did looters. "We're going to deal with you in the most severe manner." warned Alabama Governor Fob James as he ordered out the National Guard and set a dusk-to-dawn curfew. In Prichard, a Mobile suburb, Mayor A.J. Cooper issued a harsh order to deputies: warn looters twice, then shoot to kill if they do not surrender. Said Mobile County Commissioner Bay Haas of the hurricane's aftermath: "We just can't believe what we are seeing. The whole thing is incredible."

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