hurricane edith of 1971 was a category five hurricane. edith developed from a tropical disturbance on sunday, september 5 and rapidly strengthened into a hurricane in the caribbean sea. she began strengthening on thursday, september 9 and then made her first landfall as a 160 mph category five storm over northern central america. she later made landfall in western louisiana on thursday, september 16 with winds near 105 miles per hour, triggering a tornado outbreak in the gulf states area. no deaths were reported in the united states, although thirty five lives were taken elsewhere.