"Last Island" Hurricane

[Jim Eshelman]

August 10, 1856, 5:00 PM, Isle Derniere, LA 29N02'19", 90W48'15"

Credited as one of Louisiana's deadliest hurricanes, it hit the pleasure resort on "Last Island," (actually Isle Derniere, now Isles Dernieres) destroying nearly every building, wiping out its crops, initially submerging the island completely, and ultimately splitting the island into many smaller islands. It crossed "Last Island" at the time above then made a further landfall south of New Iberia, LA.

Storm surge (reaching 11-12 feet) hit between 4:00 and 5:00 PM. The eye hit a little bit later, but a time of about 5:00 PM is probably the most useful for analysis as a time of maximum psychological impact. (It coincided with a Mars-Pluto opposition aligning with the meridian.)

Sustained winds up to 150 mph, over 200 deaths (and perhaps double that), of which at least 183 were drownings from sunken ships.

Year: Capsolar {+2}
Neptune on Asc 0°29'
Jupiter & Saturn more widely foreground
Moon-Mars op. 2°41' in mundo

Bridge {+2}
t Neptune conj. Capsolar EP 0°28'
t Uranus sq. Cansolar Asc 0°40'
t Saturn sq. Capsolar Moon 0°28'
t Jupiter conj. Capsolar Moon 0°59'

Quarter: Cansolar {+1}
Uranus sq. Asc 1°29'
Moon-Neptune sq. 0°24' in mundo

Month: Caplunar {+1}
Jupiter on Dsc 0°07'
Saturn on MC 2°48'
Mercury more widely foreground
-- Mercury-Saturn conj. 1°18'
-- Jupiter-Saturn sq. 2°26'
Moon-Mars sq. 0°02'
Moon-Venus op. 1°28' in mundo
Moon-Sun op. 2°16' in mundo [near high tide for high surge]

Week: Liblunar {+1}
Uranus on IC 2°29'
Venus on WP 1°33'
-- Venus-Uranus sq. 0°13' (in RA)
Sun & Mercury more widely foreground
-- Sun-Mercury conj. 0°35' in mundo
-- Mercury-Uranus sq. 1°58' in mundo
-- Sun-Uranus sq. 2°33' in mundo

Day: Capsolar Quotidian & Transits {0 / +2 = +2}
p MC sq. p Moon 0°56'
------------------------------
t Neptune conj. s EP 0°28'
t Saturn sq. s Moon 0°28'
t Jupiter conj. s Moon 0°59'

Day: Cansolar Quotidian & Transits {+2}
p MC sq. s Mercury 0°07'
---------------------------
t Uranus sq. s Asc 0°40'
t Venus op. s Asc 1°14'