Hurricane Dora
Around 12:20 a.m. EST on September 10, Hurricane Dora made landfall about north of St. Augustine, Florida, with sustained winds between 115 and 125 mph (185 and 205 km/h). Although estimated to have been a Category 3 at landfall, the highest winds onshore were believed to have been in the Category 2 range. Striking northeastern Florida, Dora became the first tropical cyclone on record to make landfall in the region. Once onshore the storm gradually weakened, losing hurricane status about 24 hours later, and began a gradual turn towards the northeast. During the morning of September 12, Dora became almost stationary over the southern border between Alabama and Georgia. However, the storm rapidly accelerated and re-emerged into the Atlantic Ocean on September 14 near the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Hours after moving over water, the system transitioned into an extratropical cyclone. The remnants of Dora were last mentioned on September 16 off the northeast coast of Newfoundland.
Hurricane Floyd
Floyd accelerated to the north and northeast, and weakened greatly to a Category 2 hurricane. It made landfall in Cape Fear, North Carolina with winds of on September 16. After crossing over North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, it briefly re-entered the western Atlantic Ocean before making a second landfall on Jones Beach, Long Island on September 17. The storm gradually lost its tropical characteristics due to an approaching frontal zone and became extratropical over southern Maine late on September 17. The extratropical storm continued to the northeast, and after passing over the Canadian Maritimes, it was absorbed by a cold front to the east of Newfoundland.
Although Floyd's track prediction was above average while out at sea, the forecasts as it approached the coastline were merely average compared to forecasts from the previous ten years. The official forecasts did not predict Floyd's northward track nor its significant weakening before landfall. Nearly all of the East Coast, from Florida City, Florida, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, was under a Hurricane Warning at some point; however, only a fraction of this area actually received hurricane-force winds. The last time such widespread hurricane warnings occurred was during Hurricane Donna in 1960, although the warnings for that storm were accurate.
Initial fears were of a direct hit as a large Category 4 hurricane in Florida, potentially costlier and deadlier than Hurricane Andrew had been in 1992. In preparation for a potentially catastrophic landfall, more than one million Florida residents were told to evacuate, of which 272,000 were in Miami-Dade County. U.S. President Bill Clinton declared a federal state of emergency in both Florida and Georgia in anticipation of the storm's approach. As the storm turned to the north, more people were evacuated as a progressively larger area was threatened. The massive storm caused what was at the time the largest peacetime evacuation ever in the U.S., with around 2.6 million evacuating coastal areas in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas.
With the storm predicted to hit near Cape Canaveral with winds of over , all but 80 of Kennedy Space Center's 12,500-person workforce were evacuated. The hangars that house three space shuttles can withstand winds of only , and a direct hit could have resulted in potentially billions of dollars in damage of space equipment. In the theoretical scenario, the damage would be caused by water, always a potential problem in an area only nine feet above sea level. If water entered the facility, it would damage the electronics as well as requiring a complete inspection of all hardware. When Floyd actually passed by the area, Kennedy Space Center only reported light winds with minor water intrusion. Damage was minor overall, and was repaired easily.