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Images of Florida Hurricanes, Early Twentieth CenturyThree major storms hit the
Florida coast in the early part of the twentieth century. On September 27,
1906 Pensacola experienced the worst storm since the destruction of its
colonial settlement on Santa Rosa Island in the mid-eighteenth century.
Known as the "Great Hurricane," the storm struck shore in the early hours of
the morning. At the time Pensacola was recovering from a yellow fever
epidemic from the previous year and from a devastating fire that destroyed
the city's business district. Reconstruction was still underway on the day
the storm made landfall. Tides peaked at 10 feet above normal (a record
high). Winds were reported to range from 83 to 94 mph. However, analysts
consider this range too low, since monitoring stations lost their
anemometers early in the storm, and could not measure wind velocity at the
peak of the hurricane. Over 5000 houses were damaged and at least 3000
people were left homeless with a total of a 134 dead.
On the morning of July 27, 1926, a Category 1 hurricane hit Palm Beach
with winds of up to 90 mph. The storm, which had previously swept through
Puerto Rico, Haiti, and the Bahamas, hit the Florida coast along Jupiter
Inlet, sweeping away boats, houses, docks and other marine property. It
caused severe flooding throughout Palm Beach County before moving north
through the peninsula to Georgia and Alabama. No deaths were reported but
damages were estimated at $2.5 million in Florida and over $3 million for
the United States.
One of the greatest natural disasters ever to occur in the United States
was the Category 4 hurricane of September 16, 1928 in South Florida. The
storm killed 1,836 in Florida, mainly around Lake Okeechobee, as well as
causing 1,575 deaths in the Caribbean. Referred to as “San Felipe” because
it hit Puerto Rico on San Felipe Day, it did $50 million in damage on that
island, with 300 fatalities, and 200,000 people left homeless. By the time
the storm arrived in Florida winds were estimated at 150 mph. A combination
of winds and rainfall pushed the normally placid waters of Lake Okeechobee
over its dikes, with wave crests reaching as high as 15 feet. Once the
waters broke the dikes they swept across surrounding farms and settlements,
carrying away buildings, cars, and people caught in the flood.
Source: Florida's Hurricane
History. Jay Barnes. University of North Carolina Press, 1998
Image Scans and Design by Rikesh
Thakrar
1906 Pensacola Hurricane
1926 Palm Beach Hurricane
1928 Lake Okeechobee Hurricane
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