Hurricane Bertha (1996) (16 km/h) on July 10 and July 11. On July 12, Bertha made landfall between Wrightsville Beach and Topsail Beach. Bertha lost hurricane intensity just after landfall. It then accelerated to the northeast along the East Coast of the United States, producing winds of up to 60 mph (100 km/h). It moved north, and lost all of its tropical characteristics by July 18. In the United States Virgin Islands, rainfall from Bertha peaked at 3.28 in (83.3 mm) on Saint Thomas. Winds from the storm were reported to be sustained at 85 mph (140 km/h) with an unofficial observation of
Bertha Benz hope." In 2008, the Bertha Benz Memorial Route was officially approved as a route of the industrial heritage of mankind, because it follows Bertha Benz's path during the world's first long-distance journey by automobile in 1888. Now it is possible to follow the 194 km of signs indicating her route from Mannheim via Heidelberg to Pforzheim (Black Forest) and back. The "Bertha Benz Challenge", embedded in the framework of the ceremony of "Automobile Summer 2011", the big official German event and birthday party commemorating the invention of the automobile by Karl Benz over , took place on Bertha Benz Memorial