As it approached Haiti to the west, Hazel was classified as a category 2 hurricane. It touched land at Port-a-Piment and Corail with winds of up to 110 miles per hour and carried on over the north-west tip of Haitian cities La Plateforme and Mole Saint-Nicolas. It then made its way through the Bahamas, passing to the east of Nassau, and at that point it gathered momentum and quickly became a category 3 then a category 4 hurricane, with wind speeds of up to 155 miles per hour. It was at this force when it rushed toward the East Coast of the United States.
Passing approximately 50 miles East of Charleston, South Carolina, at category 4 wind speeds, Hazel dropped slightly to a category 3 as it hit Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It moved up past Fayetteville and through Raleigh, North Carolina. It then lost steam as it moved farther north.
Hazel wound down to an extra-tropical storm as it moved upward through Virginia and passed directly through Hagerstown, West Virginia. It rolled through Pennsylvania less than 100 miles west of Harrisburg and 50 miles west of Williamsport. Hazel continued its northward push across New York State, passing less than 50 miles west of Rochester, before crossing Lake Ontario and heading into Canada.
Still at extra-tropical storm force, the center of Hazel's strength was 100 miles east of Toronto and directly hit Peterborough as it made its way farther north through Quebec. Approximately 20 miles east of North Bay, and 80 miles from Timmin, Hazel drove northward until it reached Moosonee on the Hudson Bay and veered eastward while still moving north. It was officially declassified on the hurricane scale when it dissipated in the northeastern most tip of the country.
