Hurricane Floyd         

Hurricane Floyd was classified as a Category 4 hurricane by the National Hurricane Center, however, there were several anemometers on Elbow Cay that recorded sustained winds of over 175 mph, with gusts of 220+ (before they blew away!), making it a Category 5 storm. There is debate as to why the storm's true strength was not reported. The center of the eye is over Elbow Cay. Those that remained on the island experienced blue sky with bright sunshine and non-threatening winds while the eye passed over, and then the winds switched direction 180 degrees and hammered them at full strength from the other side. 

Most of the vegetation was stripped of leaves, many boats sunken, and numerous houses severely damaged or destroyed.

Here is a beach view of Villa Calcutta, the house that sat where Calypso is being built. It survived on the top of the dune for over 30 years. Note the lush vegetation.

The roof was blown off the main section of the house to the right and the block foundation wall washed away. The house was essentially a total loss.  Surprisingly, a note left on one of the beds in the left section of the house  was  undisturbed, despite the open bedroom  door!

Floyd caused severe wind damage and beach erosion all along the ocean side of the island. The ocean waves wiped out the foundations of many ocean homes. The successful efforts to re-build the beach were impressive. Little evidence of the storm damage remains.