Twenty years ago — 1999

More than one million people were told to evacuate the Atlantic coast and NASA all but abandoned Cape Canaveral as Hurricane Floyd — one of the most powerful storms ever to threaten the United States — charged toward Florida with potentially catastrophic 135 mph winds. Floyd’s hurricane force winds — at least 74 mph — extend for 125 miles compared to Hurricane Andrew, whose winds extended about 25 or 30 miles.

Thirty years ago — 1989

Another portion of the Sheraton Harborfront Inn will be available to the public with today’s opening of the brightly-colored Spinnaker Lounge. The room contains booths, tables and a dance floor. The lounge will function as the center of nightly entertainment for the hotel. Traditionally, the spinnaker is the third sail of a ship and the name of the lounge carries on the hotel’s harborfront theme.

Forty years ago — 1979

A battle within the Democratic Party in Dunkirk has ended, but the war is far from over. After winning the Democratic nomination for mayor with a landslide victory in the recent primary, Gary C. Michalak called for the resignation of Chester Woloszyn as chairman of the Dunkirk City Democratic Committee. Cast as the maverick challenger, Mr. Michalak easily won the Democratic mayoral nomination over Diane Trezenski, who was endorsed by the 32-member city Democratic committee.

Fifty years ago — 1969

The Dunkirk branch of the NAACP has been granted $100,000 from the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. to be used for housing in the city, according to Hormon Dorsey, president. The grant was made at a special meeting in Syracuse of Metropolitan representatives and local NAACP officials.