GREAT MIAMI HURRICANE OF 1926

On September 18, 1926, the Great Miami Hurricane swept across South Florida with estimated winds of 131-155 mph. Before the era of satellites and computer models, warnings for tropical cyclones were often inadequate. A storm warning from Washington was posted by the Miami Weather Bureau Office (located on the third floor of the Old U.S. Post Office and Courthouse Building from 1914 to 1929) at noon on September 17. A hurricane warning went up only as the winds were rising at 11:25 P.M. Weather instruments on the roof of the building blew away around 3:30 A.M. The eye of the hurricane reached the coast at 6:00 A.M., lasting about 35 minutes with a lowest pressure measured at 27.61 inches. The second part of the hurricane produced the strongest winds and the highest storm surge up to 10 feet that completely flooded Miami Beach and several blocks inland on the mainland, causing the deaths of many who mistakenly thought the storm was over. The storm killed more than 370, made more than 25,000 people homeless, and caused millions of dollars in damage in South Florida. It continued across the state and moved into the Gulf of Mexico near Fort Myers, making a second landfall west of Pensacola on September 20, 1926.