Atlantic Development Now Looks Unlikely & the Great Miami Hurricane Made Landfall 100 Years Ago Today

SEPTEMBER 18, 1926

The storm came in two phases. Winds in Miami increased steadily between 10:00 PM and midnight the previous evening, and the barometer started falling rapidly. At the Weather Bureau office downtown, meteorologist Richard Gray knew that the hurricane was coming. The Hurricane Warning was finally issued by Weather Bureau HQ in Washington. Gray ran to the city dock to hoist the hurricane flags. They were flying at midnight.

Suddenly, just about that time, there was a powerful surge in the wind, and the bottom fell out of the barometer for the next 6 ½ hours.

The northeast wind ripped across the populated areas of South Florida from Miami north to Fort Lauderdale. The first half of the storm took just over six hours to pass. Windows broke, roofs blew off, and walls caved in on buildings big and small across the region.

The center of the giant hurricane made landfall over today's town of Palmetto Bay about 13 miles south of downtown Miami. But the huge circulation pushed storm surge into West Palm Beach about 80 miles farther north. Downtown Fort Lauderdale was inundated with water 3 to 4 feet deep in the buildings. The beaches were devastated. The eastern part of the city of Hollywood was essentially destroyed by the surging ocean water and the ripping wind.

The winds in Miami and the southern part of Miami Beach called South Beach calmed to a significant degree when the northern part of the eye passed over. Many people thought the storm was finished and ran into the streets to see what had happened. Some drove over the causeway from the mainland to Miami Beach because phone service failed in the middle of the night. Then the back of the massive hurricane arrived.

After 7:00 AM, a violent surge of water rushed up Biscayne Bay, pushing boats of all sizes into downtown Miami and sea water flooded deep into the city. Pleasure yachts and giant commercial ships littered the bayfront, lifted out of the bay by the surge. Miami Beach was flooded from the east and the west. Parts of the city were 3 feet deep in sand. Cars and people were washed off the causeway.

The second phase of the hurricane took longer to clear. Winds blew hard through the afternoon and into the evening. It wasn't until the next morning that people could see the reality of the massive destruction.

The Miami Herald and the Fort Lauderdale Daily News could not publish that weekend, September 18 and 19. But the Miami News managed to get a single-page EXTRA out the door the afternoon of the 18th, even before the wind stopped blowing. It was a superhuman manual effort with no power, no water, and no communications.

As the huge hurricane swept inland, the northern part of the circulation pushed the shallow water of giant Lake Okeechobee against the western shoreline. An earthen dike protecting the town of Moore Haven failed. A wall of water poured over the town drowning people in their homes or washing them into the marsh. Some 200 people died in the small town, but the actual death toll isn't known because some bodies were washed into the lake.

If the 1926 Great Miami Hurricane happened again today, it would be the most expensive hurricane disaster in the history of the United States. Modern estimates put the insured losses at $200 billion, and total losses are nominally calculated by doubling what insurance companies pay. It would be an inconceivable catastrophe.

IN THE ATLANTIC IN 2026

The system we've been following now looks unlikely to develop. Hostile upper-level winds ripped it apart.

Another non-tropical system has a low chance of developing in the eastern Atlantic before it gets absorbed by an advancing cold front.

IN THE PACIFIC

We'll watch a system develop offshore of Mexico in the next few days. Computer forecasts show that it might eventually threaten the Mexican coast, so everybody there should stay aware of developments beginning early next week.

The other Pacific systems are not expected to be a threat to land, although the remnants of Tropical Depression 15E are likely to spread extra moisture across the Hawaiian Islands next week. Tropical moisture from ex-Tropical Storm Norbert is currently causing heavy rain on the windward slopes of the mountainous islands.