The Nation - News from Sept. 7, 1989

Hurricane Gabrielle veered northward in the Atlantic, taking its 130 m.p.h. winds away from the U.S. mainland, but threatening to sideswipe the island of Bermuda. Gabrielle, the largest and most powerful hurricane of the season, lashed the seas all the way to the East Coast, forming swells of 5 to 13 feet from Maryland to Florida, said Bob Sheets, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Winds 40 m.p.h. or higher stretched 500 miles across the storm’s path as it curved to the north out in the mid-Atlantic, forecasters said.