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From today's featured article A home destroyed by the hurricane Hurricane Elena was an unpredictable and damaging tropical cyclone that affected the United States Gulf Coast in late August and early September 1985. Threatening popular tourist destinations during Labor Day weekend, Elena repeatedly defied forecasts, triggering an unprecedented series of evacuations; many residents and tourists were forced to leave twice in a matter of days. Elena's slow movement off western Florida resulted in severe beach erosion and damage to coastal buildings, roads, and seawalls. The hurricane devastated the Apalachicola Bay shellfish industry, killing off vast oyster beds and leaving thousands of workers unemployed. Farther west, Dauphin Island in Alabama endured wind gusts as high as 130 mph (210 km/h) and a significant storm surge. In Mississippi, over 13,000 homes were damaged and 200 were entirely destroyed. Overall, nine people died as a result of the hurricane: three in Florida, two in Louisiana, one in Arkansas, two in Texas from rip currents, and one in a maritime accident. Damage totaled about $1.3 billion, and power outages from the storm affected 550,000 homes and businesses. (Full article...) Recently featured: JC's Girls Acacia pycnantha Carrow Road Did you know... Vahida Maglajlić ... that the Yugoslav national hero Vahida Maglajlić (pictured) used her status as a Sharia judge's daughter to organize resistance against Fascist authorities during World War II? ... that the crimson fruitcrow is not a crow nor primarily a fruit-eater? ... that Mary Isenhour contributed to the campaigns of U.S. Senator Bob Casey, Jr. and Pennsylvania Governors Ed Rendell and Tom Wolf, who all won their elections? ... that uses of Trout Run include a hatchery and a water supply for a city and a prison? ... that Grace Eldering, along with Pearl Kendrick, developed the first successful pertussis vaccine and large-scale controlled trial for it? ... that BBC One's 5-Star Family Reunion involves teams of four alternating between multiple-choice questions and quick-fire questions for four rounds? ... that the first Italian public balloon flight was organized by Count Andreani in Brugherio? ... that a New Jersey Forest Fire Service firewarden can summon any person aged 18 to 50 to assist in putting out wildfires—and it is against the law to refuse?

In the news Temple of Bel The ancient temples of Bel (pictured in 2010) and Baalshamin in Palmyra are destroyed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Mount McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America, is renamed to its traditional name of Denali by the United States. Flash floods and mudslides caused by Tropical Storm Erika kill at least 31 people across Dominica in the Lesser Antilles. India is declared free from maternal and neonatal tetanus. Wildfires across the U.S. state of Washington, including the Okanogan Complex fire, destroy more than 200 homes and burn 920 square miles (2,400 km2). Eleven people are killed when a Hawker Hunter crashes onto a busy road during an airshow in Shoreham-by-Sea, UK. Ongoing events: European migrant crisis Recent deaths: Nelson Shanks Wes Craven Oliver Sacks On this day... September 3: Flag Day in Australia; Independence Day in Qatar (1971) Wreckage of the USS Shenandoah 590 – Gregory I became pope, the first one to come from a monastic background. 1651 – English Parliamentarian forces under Oliver Cromwell won the Battle of Worcester, the final battle of the Third English Civil War. 1901 – The National Flag of Australia, a Blue Ensign defaced with the Commonwealth Star and the Southern Cross, flew for the first time atop the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne. 1925 – The USS Shenandoah, the U.S. Navy's first rigid airship, was torn apart in a squall line over Ohio (wreckage pictured). 1941 – The Holocaust: SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Fritzsch first used the pesticide Zyklon B to execute Soviet POWs en masse at Auschwitz; eventually it was used to kill about 1.2 million people. More anniversaries: September 2 September 3 September 4

Today's featured picture Alatskivi Castle is a Neo-Gothic castle in Alatskivi, Estonia. Dating to the 17th century, it is situated in Alatskivi Parish, Tartu County. It was rebuilt in the late 19th century by Baron Arved von Nolcken, modeled on the royal residence of Balmoral in Scotland. A renovation occurred between 2005 and 2011. Five rooms on the first floor house the Eduard Tubin museum, which documents his accomplishments as a composer and conductor. Photograph: Ivar Leidus Recently featured: Inca tern Ethel Waters Simon Neil

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