The Great Miami Hurricane of 1926
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- Опубликовано: 19 сен 2021
- Miami was the fastest growing city in the nation, in the midst of a great real estate boom. Then nature intervened. At the time, the United States Weather service described the hurricane of September 17 - 20, 1926 as “probably the most destructive storm in the history of the United States” The “Great Miami Hurricane” deserves to be remembered.
This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.
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73 years in this idyllic place, punctuated with moments of terror, watching building codes continue to miss the mark and new comers never reading the fine print. When the big blows come, folks still thank us old salts for our generators, chainsaws, field dressings and transportation contraptions that somehow just work when needed. There is a reason Miami Area provides some of the best trained disaster rescue and recovery teams in the world. Welcome to the River of Grass. Oh, and don't forget to tip your wait staff:)
Every new comer to just about any area probably scratches the head in wonderment of some point about natives... a fine RUclips reporter on boat ramps and news has mentioned that a 4x4 is essential in some instances for boat ramps. Low tide being foremost. Once you have seen the benefits of an object or system you really appreciate it!
I grew up not far from Daytona & Saint Augustine. That was back in the 60s & 70s. I've lived in several states since. But still use my hall closet as a "disaster pantry" with a good supply of things for emergencies.
Tip the wait staff ? Why doesn’t the employers pay them a liveable wage ?
Agree and tip them well.
Keith Kearns Some wait staff (a hot chick in a bar for example) can make a lot more in tips than the bar owner makes. In such a case, she should pay the owner a liveable wage.
A REAL History teacher. no rewrites just honest history.
He would never get a job today in public academia for that reason.
Correct! We need to push back on institutional “education”systems ..e.g. ‘universities’…that are trying to do just that…rewrite history to suit their feelings, emotions and ideology.
That's just what a revisionist would say.
-Galvestonian here, pushed out by Ike - two weeks of no-power all the way to Houston, during a very warm September. I will forever remember the selflessness and courtesy of Texans on the SE coastline, they turned a disaster into a community event! The history of great storms like Carla and Katrina should be remembered, if not as a warning, but as a lesson that people rebuild and recover from the very worst of times, and the goodness of people endures. Love the channel and the content, cheers!!
God Bless the good people of Texas!! ... from Iowa
Too bad folks have to nearly die before coming together. Love Galveston by Glen Campbell!
I grew up in Miami and every time a storm was coming my grandmother would talk about how her house survived the ‘26 hurricane so it would survive this one too.
My grandfather ran the royal palm ice plant on 27 ave. Told us how he hid under the compressors at the ice plant. He lived in Allapatta
Even if no pirates were actually involved in the story, this master story-teller can still raise the hackles on the back of your neck with his marvelous talent... History can indeed be remembered when someone takes what could be a dry, lifeless story and brings it to life in a way that demands to be remembered! Love ya, History Guy! Keep up the good work!
Oh you can bet there were pirates in this story, they're called Price gougers, and they come in behind every Hurricane.
@@TSemasFl They come but aren't well recieved. I've been through over 20 storms, thankfully all but two were cat 2 or less.
We don't take kindly to thieves, sometimes the rumour of mob justice keeps them away.
@@bubbaray575 , price gougers aren't the same as looters. Price gougers are sometimes store owners who double or triple the price of their goods, to whatever they can get away with. A liter of bottled water becomes $8 instead of $3, and so on.
@@TSemasFl , and then there are the real estate pirates, euphemistically known as "speculators", who pick up land and destroyed properties for a song, and wait until the market goes up again.
@@goodun2974 how about we have the history guy explain to you why the price would go up every time a storm hits since you can’t figure it out
I will be 70 in a little over a month, the improvements in weather forecasting and tracking storms that have occurred in my lifetime are amazing. Because of the space program, we can now track hurricanes as they form off the west coast of Africa and can estimate, accurately, when and where they will make landfall. We are still learning more about those storms and that will probably never end. The weather has so many variables that it boggles my mind.
@I'm Learnding This
Happy early birthday!
@I'm Learnding Actually policy does effect climate and therefore the weather. Unwise policy is bringing us more hurricanes and more severe hurricanes. I do realize that the 1926 hurricane was before the marked increase in CO2.
@I'm Learnding THANK you.
@@pauleohl That is exactly the point... There were far more and severe weather
disasters when CO2 was lower... The floods and droughts of the past were more
extreme and deadly.... Forrest fires were far bigger and more devastating.
My great grandmother lived in Key West in 1926, and told me a story when I was probably 7 or 8 years old which I barely remember now. She told me about how she caught the very last train out of Key West just before this hurricane hit & destroyed the railroad bridge between Key West and Marathon. I remember her saying that she had a barometer, and when she saw the barometer steadily falling, she knew a hurricane was imminent & left immediately. She relocated to Tampa and that is where the majority of my family is based even to this day.
that one was called the 1935 labor hurricane.
Smart woman!
@@cactusrider7686 and that was when co2 was close to the "ideal" 300ppm. Tony Heller has 1,000's of utubes with real data and history on the co2 is killing the planet lie. ruclips.net/video/wmru3wNlQzQ/видео.html
Im sorry
Also, the bird mascot the University uses is not an anorexic chicken as many assume, it is an ibis, a native bird that has a reputation for being the last to leave before the storm hits and the first to return to their nests, so they are an accurate prediction of the beginning and end of bad weather.
Good point- I should have mentioned that the Ibis is considered a symbol of hurricanes.
Correct. Notably, my alma mater’s mascot, once known as ‘Gamecock: Gāme-kôk - an ass kickin’ chicken has now unfortunately become the anorexic chicken you speak of. 😩
In Australia, they are known as Bin Chickens because of their habit of rifling through public rubbish bins & as a consequence, unfortunately, most people don't like them...
@@viennapalace in the US its seagulls that do that. Also crows.
Sebastian the Ibis!
What caught my eye was all those five-masted ships. Yes, many had metal hulls and engines. And they're not all gone, even now. Yet it gave the impression of a disaster from a much earlier time. The whole eye of the storm trap for those who don't know better reminded me of a similar danger in tsunamis when the water retreats just before the BIG wave hits.
Yes, that brigantine on her side immediately brought to mind the Calliope typhoon, 1889, Samoa. Lots of fun political tension w/ that one as well, plus a triumph for Victoria's shipbuilders.
@@jamesbugbee6812 Just a couple of decades ago the Sea Scouts in the SF Bay area used a brigantine to teach kids teamwork. The perfect tool for that! My brother, a longtime scout master, used to go on those and loved them. But they stopped because it costs a lot to maintain a ship like that and the kids couldn't stop looking at their phones 😂 🤣 Okay, okay, I made up the last bit. It was all cost. There were no "smart" phones then.
Katrina survivor from South Mississippi here; the eye passed directly over us about 40 miles north of Gulfport. The destruction was insane... finding a path home in my car that evening was like being on the surface of another planet. The destruction was so severe and so widespread that I was HAPPY that my roof only got a little damage, and grateful I had access to water at our local creek. We were way out in the county outside of any township so it was a month before we got power back. The heat and humidity and mosquitoes were AWFUL, but I knew how fortunate I was compared to so many others. Gratitude seriously got me through it. I got to have that time as a powerful emotional and learning experience, instead of one of grief and loss.
My grandfather was a Chesapeake Bay Waterman. The family has been there since 1607. He advised me; "Don't buy low land, don't live on low land."
Good advise.
The issue in south Florida is that all is low land. I live about 15 miles from the shore line.the elevation was 8 feet above sea level and 2 feet of that was fill. All of the lakes you see in the developments is to get fill to build the homes on.
I grew up on the shore of Long Island; I'd love to live there again but my wife and I did the sensible (and affordable) thing and bought a house an hour's drive from the shore. My house is near the crest of a hilly ridge; the foundation is pinned to ledge rock. My closest neighbors are about 50 to 60 feet below me. Their basements might flood but mine won't. I am surrounded by trees, which is sometimes concerning, but the weakest ones have either already been cut or knocked down by previous storms.
Living in 🇬🇧, I'm eternally grateful for not having to face these tropical monsters, roaring in from the ocean. We have the cold North Atlantic waters to thank for killing off hurricanes as they track North East towards us & we get a bit of wind & some pretty heavy rainstorms.
Thank you History Guy for another history lesson learned.
You should check out the hurricane that hit New England in the 1930's.....interesting story.
Roughly speaking, most hurricanes that hit the us are relatively mild. A good excuse to call out sick, drink beer, and bbq. Its just that every one in a while you get a monster. Andrew, katrina, etc. the lower islands south of florida are who gets the brunt of them.
I’m a Floridian and my experience with our hurricanes came in 2004 when three crossed through Orlando. We experienced flooding down our walls and other damage that was in the tens of thousands of dollars, BUT nothing like the people who were directly hit. I’m so grateful that we understand that when things get quiet that we are in the eerie eye of the storm. Of course, even better is that we can track storms for days and make “just in case” plans. You either leave early and risk a wasted trip or you leave when you and everyone else KNOWS it’s time to go. Then you all sit, jammed together on the turnpike, (possibly with four young children and 5 bearded dragons), trying to exit our long, narrow state. The exit signs begin to have signs that say, “no gas”. Oh dear. For those in the direct path, my heart goes out to ALL of you and what you lost and suffered through. It’s not something we see that often, but you just never know when…
There is a cemetery in Ortona, FL, near Moore Haven, with a very disproportionate number of headstones dated September 1926. Some have the names of entire families on them.
The 1928 hurricane was even worse. It struck near West Palm Beach, but it's called The Okeechobee Hurricane for a reason. It's the reason there is a massive levee around Lake Okeechobee.
God bless you for keeping history alive. And telling it objectively and truthfully with no agenda. It's refreshing.
My late grandfather saved my mother's life when it hit Havana,Cuba earlier , he took her upstairs from the flooding river. She was a baby at that time. Thank you grandfather! Des el hijo de tu hija. Gracias!
I've been outside during the eye of a hurricane. It is truly an awe-inspiring experience. Just be sure to get back into cover before the back side comes through.
Me too. Played outside for a half hour in the eye of hurricane Frederic. Even a hundred miles north of Pascagoula it was still violent before and after. Also remember how abnormally and eerily quiet it was on my bike ride home from school the day we split from the coast.
People got some fish stories lol.
me too. hurricane Charley went right over my apartment. there were three tornadoes mixed in, as well. each in excess of 200 mph. one of those passed within about 75 yards of my dining room window.
it's really hard to describe how awe-inspiring and yet frightening it is at the same time.
The eye of a hurricane is eerie. It's unnaturally calm, but the sky is still an unhealthy color with very high clouds swirling in what seems like invisible winds.
During my 65yr. Living in the panhandle of Fl. I have lived through Camille, Fredrick, Opal, Errin, Dennis and Ivan. Add Rita while working in La. just to name a few.
Tampa, Resident. Hurricane Irma in 2017.......what a beast. No where to Hide, Pray an hope. .
I love watching how you continuously rearrange the hats, shelves, and pictures on the wall behind you.
I love his hat collection.
I especially liked the picture of the "Admiral" Cat!!
Excellent video! I was a teen in South Miami in the 70s and heard stories about this storm from a friend's grandfather who was a young man at the time. A portion of the book titled A Land Remembered by Patrick Smith covers the storm from the perspective of a character who rode out the storm in the farmlands at the South end of Lake Okeechobee. It was months before they recovered all the bodies.
Then the Okeechobee area did it all over again with the 1928 storm.... those were terrible years for hurricanes in S Florida ...
Where were you when I took History classes. You and Fredrick Allen Lewis make History alive, interesting and palpable
"how many languages used for prayers..."
"and... PROFANE!"
😄
I laughed out loud at that one.
the 1935 labor hurricane is also history that deserves to remembered too. The loss of the CCC camp and the ties to the Bonus army are quite interesting
A lot of people are now saying "I wish I'd never seen Miami". Just for a reason other than hurricanes. But thank you History Guy for another great lesson.
Worked there for 6 months when I first moved down here and hated it ever since lol
Miami is Sodom and Gomorrah.
@@MrVideogamehunter , my stepson visited FL when he was 9 and thought it was heaven; he moved there with his girlfriend when he was 21, and within 6 months they were making arrangements and saving money to move back to New England. Their assessment? "Florida is too hot, too flat, and too old".
This hurricane is nothing to what is hitting south beach these days
@@yoshit9819 , I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean. For myself, its probably time for a short jump onto the South Beach Diet again...
In the 1948 Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall film 'Key Largo', there's a scene in which Lionel Barrymore's character Mr. Temple tells Johnny Rocco, brilliantly played by Edward G. Robinson, about the 1935 hurricane that washed 800 people out to sea, blew a relief train from Miami right off the track and bodies were popping up in the mangrove swamps for months. Throughout the film they described the hurricane as a 'big blow'...your video immediately reminded me of that great classic film. Awesome job!
I begin to listen to this episode with interpretation. Racked with PTSD from hurricane Andrew, a CAT 5 hurricane that hit on August 24, 1992; I decided to see what the history of the 1926 hurricane had to say through those who live through it. I couldn’t believe my ears. As PTSD tears ran from my eyes the haunting words that echoed down through the decades where every bit as surreal and horrifyingly accurate as the experience we had during Hurricane Andrew. I lived in an area where we went through the northern Eye’s calm, with no let up of the Eye Wall winds fury over 200 mph. That of course is a average guess since all the anemometers were destroyed. My house was one of the only two that still remain standing structurally but was very unsound nevertheless. I can assure you that everything you quoted this evening in this excellent reiteration of the eyewitness accounts was riveting and truthful to his bitter core. Unless you experience one of these monster storms you must try to imagine what the eyewitnesses wrote and put it into context of your greatest and most horrific nightmare. Only then will it approach our reality. By the way, I attended the University of Miami then stayed to be an educator, and that is why I was living in Miami, off SW 158st at the time of Andrew. God bless everyone who experienced that monster and the monster of 1926. These scars can’t heal in our lifetime. May we never get another storm like that in this new century.
I was in NW Florida when Hurricane Michael, a category five hurricane, tried to wipe that part of the state off the map. The ONLY saving grace was that it didn't slow down or stall but kept moving at a steady pace. Otherwise, NW Florida would look like it did long before anyone ever settled here, minus any trees or landscape. Mexico Beach was all but completely wiped out and is still trying to recover. Sadly, within just days the less than WORTHLESS main stream media totally forgot all about us and what we were facing every day. And to many, especially in my area, if you mention the Red Cross you better have a darned good dental plan! They only seemed to show up where the television cameras were but ignored everybody else. Our saving grace came from the Salvation Army and many, many church groups from all over the country that sent food and supplies in to help us survive.
I lived in Port Charlotte Florida during Charlie. that horrible storm decimated our town. the eye went right over our apartment. it was the most amazing and the most frightening thing I've ever been through.
@@richardcline1337 I never donate to the Red Cross for the very reasons you spoke of. They only want to line their own pockets. The local churches/organizations are a much better way to get help to those who need it.
You should prob not watch hurricane docos. Just sayin
Been in Miami now almost 33 yrs and experienced Hurricane Andrew. Never forget the pressure in my ears as descending on a plane as we approached the airport. Imagine seeing water coming in through window seems it was creepy and hearing your garage being beating down as if their were a beast outside trying to get in . And then the lights went out and all we could is wait with a few candles on. Yet we were in modern age. Where as back then thoughts of dooms day most have been on everyones mind .. And sadly the 2nd half of the storm kills more life because of the lack of knowledge ...Absolutely appreciate this history; learned more here then at any other time. Truly appreciate this channel.. Thank You
I was born in Jacksonville. We eventually moved away. But some of my most vivid early childhood memories are of the great storms that occasionally passed over us.
“I wish we had never seen Miami.”
Many such cases.
But, but, without the existence of Miami, what would Denny's call their breakfast special? Moon over Toledo?
@@goodun2974 : Toledo is the Miami of theMidwest
@@djquinn11 , ah, but which is more "holy", Miami or Toledo? ? Or is it holey....perhaps Corporal Klinger would know! Anyway, I kinda pulled Toledo out of my......just for purposes of making a quick joke.
@peter michalski , Hurricanes are coming more frequently, which means that the occurrence of strong storms has also increased. The water temps in the gulf of Mexico set records this year and this provides the energy to fuel hurricanes. The storm season isn't over yet either.
@@goodun2974, you got that right. More importantly, it's not just the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea that are heating up: it's tropical water around the world. And those waters are heating to a greater depth than ever in recorded history.
I turn 65 in January 2022, so it's likely I won't be around to see the worst global climate change has to offer. But it's coming -- and it won't be gentle with you if you're still around when it gets here . . . .
My mother Mary was helping her much older sister…watching her young children, even though she was only 15. Mary was unaware about the hurricane, and when her sister called to check on her, and Mom asked why the palm trees were bent over touching the ground.
As a young boy, my family lived in Orlando ( late sixties ) and experience a hurricane right over top of us, the storm threw everything in yards from one direction and then when the eye went over top of us, it threw all that stuff back the other way, the eye was an eerie calm of sunshine and silent, the stillness was freaky and yes, the backside was the worst of it, we were scared half to death, my father was in Kissimmee at the time and couldn't get ahold of us afterwards...
Ironic: two days ago from the time I'm watching this, the UM Hurricanes lost badly to Michigan State and I heard someone say on Sunday morning "Hurricanes? More like a tropical depression."
lp2317 On the shore of the Red Cedar River
There's a school that's known to all
It's specialty is winning
And those Hurricanes did fall
Go Green!
Just remember, when you think the storms are over, another big one hits…canes will be back.
Go BIG 10!!
My first experience with typhoons(hurricanes) was in Taiwan as a seven-year-old. I thought it was neat to walk and lean into the wind with my face about a foot or less from the ground.
When the typhoon was over, I walked over the downed bamboo fences to my friend's home. No longer a block and a half walk. That was great.
I had no concept of the danger nor the destructiveness of that typhoon!
My 95 year old Mother was born during this hurricane in Ft Lauderdale, heard many stories about from my grand parents as a kid.
Interesting, as always. You should do an episode on the Florida Keys Hurricane of 1935.
those poor WWI veterans :(
Read "Category 5 - The Labor Day Hurricane" by Thomas Neill Knowles published by University Press of Florida in 2009.
There again, I'm sure THG would make a superb 15-minute history lesson of the event
Was that the hurricane portrayed in the movie Key Largo?
@@robskalas , No, but it was mentioned..
I’ve been watching this channel for quite awhile. I’ve come to the conclusion that this channel should be watched by every middle school student in the entire country. Just great. Thank you.
I would include teachers, parents and all good citizens. Its often very difficult for teachers to teach facts when adults around students often discredit the facts out of either ignorance of the subject or some agenda.
We take modern weather forecasting for granted, but events like this hurricane and the Armistice Day blizzard of 1940 hit a largely unsuspecting population with unexpected fury.
The Armistice Day blizzard is a historic and is annually well discussed here in Des Moines Iowa.
Warnings about the New England hurricane of 1938 were similarly ignored. Read "Sudden Sea" for a full recounting of the storm.
Once again, fantastic piece! This story reminds me of the Galvestone hurricane of 1900. The primitive weather forecasting, the suddenness, the complete destruction, the unawareness of storms power by the public. And also, unfortunately, the death toll. Keep up the great work guys!!!
It reminded me of the 1925 Tri-State tornado outbreak, again no real weather forecasting and no warnings.
@@gsdalpha1358 Still difficult to predict tornadoes even with modern technology.
@@robskalas We’ve learned the signs and watch out. You’re right, and there’ve been times the tornado sirens go off *after* the fact. Which is why we don’t solely rely on forecasters or those live streaming weather people.
As a native Floridian who grew up in Homestead in the 1960s I appreciate hearing this story. Thx!!
WOW!!!! I grew up hearing about the hurricanes of the 1920s... 1926, 28, and 29 .... but you did a WONDERFUL job of bringing this to life for even the most jaded of us! The era from 1925 to 1935 was a period of high hurricane activity along the eastern seaboard ...
Look up the Northeast Hurricane of 1938. "Sudden Sea" is a terrifying read.
@@goodun2974 I don't think I've read that - will definitely look for it! Thanks for the share!
@@k.c1126 My parents bought a cottage on the shores of Long Island sound in the late 1950s when I was a baby. It had been built with wreckage left over from the hurricane of 1938, all of which had gotten wet and wind blown. All of the timbers were warped and twisted and although the cottage was built very strong with old growth lumber, here wasn't a plumb or level surface in the entire cottage. This made life interesting when my father and my brother and I gutted the place when I was 13 and replaced all the windows and put in new paneling and so on.
Doing genealogy research I found my second great-granduncle James Campbell owned a house in downtown Miami in 1920 according to the Census. He was listed as retired. It then came as a surprise to me then that in 1930 he was listed as living in an apartment in Washington D.C. in 1930. This was how I learned about the hurricane.
He was supposed to be an interesting character. He was only 53 in 1920. Lived to be 93. Had made and lost several fortunes. He was born in Illinois in 1866, lived in at least 5 different states in his life and died in San Jose California in 1959.
4:09 I had never even known that South Florida had a "pineapple industry" in the 20th century. I have lived in Central Florida for over 42 years - my first hurricane was Erin in 1995, after I lived here for 15 years with no major named storms hitting the area around me, but hurricane Andrew making a big impact in South Florida in 1992. Erin had set the wrong kind of "precedent" as I biked home to my apartment from my mom's place while the "eye" of the storm passed over Orlando. That experience had kinda led me to think less of these destructive tropical cyclones, till they started having a heavy impact. The 2000's have been the "heyday" of heavy hurricanes hitting all over the state of Florida. Starting a couple of "near misses" that saw a couple of tropical storms hitting the East Central Florida coast in 2002, things have really escalated. On August 13, 2004 hurricane Charley came ashore in Southwest Florida and still had a wind gust of 105 mph in Orlando, it spawned 9 tornadoes, damaged or destroyed thousands of homes, resulted in 34 deaths, and was the second costliest American hurricane at the time with damages of $16 billion (my wife and I had married 6 months previously, and toured the West, Southwest, and Southeast Coasts on our honeymoon - the lovely local motel we stayed in Fort Lauderdale by the Sea was wiped off the map by this storm. We weathered the storm at my mom's place, our mobile home was moved a couple inches askew from it's supports and remains so for it's current owners). September 5, and hurricane Frances made it's second landfall near where my wife had spent time growing up in New Port Richey. It caused flooding with heavy rainfall, storm surge damage and spawned 23 tornadoes as part of a "widespread outbreak", led to 37 deaths, caused $9.8 billion in damages, and left our trailer without power for 3 weeks. September 16 and hurricane Ivan struck Gulf Shores AL, with a big storm surge it damaged parts of Interstate 10 and spawned an extensive tornado outbreak with 18 touching down in FL, causing $4 billion in damages and killing 29 people - after it had also looped around to cross over the Southern part of Florida it reformed as a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico on Sep 23 (one of the very... weirdest storms I have ever even heard about). On September 25th hurricane Jeanne made landfall near where Franc had struck 3 weeks earlier. Jeanne hit some of the same areas hit by the previous severe storms, significant storm surge resulted in flooding of most of FL's East Coast, heavy rainfall of near 11 inches in some areas, $7.5 billion in damages, 6 deaths, the near total exhaustion of first responders and "community services" by the time it was all said and done. 2004 still bothers my memories and thoughts on occasions when rain goes on for a few days... 2005 was another very active year for tropical cyclones, and most of us know about how bad Hurricane Katrina hit the inner Gulf Coast, but it crossed South Florida first, causing heavy flooding, and finishing off what little remained in Homestead, after Andrew and other storms had destroyed the Air Force Base there. Katrina would of course go on to strengthen in the Gulf of Mexico, hitting from Biloxi to New Orleans causing severe widespread damage, destroying whole communities and fisheries, and killing 1836 Americans. It was the costliest tropical cyclone on record at the time, the fourth most powerful Atlantic hurricane to make landfall, Katrina was a beast of a different type (my wife got a "contractor" and later seasonal job with FEMA to help victims of this storm from all over the Gulf Coast, she took calls while balling her eyes out from not being able to do enough to help - it was the second most stressful yet somewhat rewarding job she ever had - Just a little more "challenging" than working with me as a "passenger care" worker at our local airport, we were responsible for moving disabled passengers and "unescorted minors" to and from their flights. One "shift" of over 24 hours watching over a dozen unescorted minors during an unscheduled "lay over" at that job broke her desire to ever have children). It would be till September 1, 2016 before another major hurricane hit around my area of Florida. Hermine was the first since Wilma in 2005, landing up on the inner West Coast of FL, with a strong storm surge, very heavyyyy rains of up to 22 inches, killing one man, and causing $80 million in damages. Then on October 7, hurricane Matthew drove up along the entire East Coast of FL, remaining offshore for the majority of the time. Matthew caused heavy beach erosion, washed away parts of A1A (🎶 "...beach front boulevard..." 🎶), damaged millions of dollars in equipment at Kennedy Space Center, killed 14 people, and left over $1.8 billion in damages. The next year, on September 10, 2017 hurricane Irma would land in South Florida, with heavy damage to the Florida Keys, and heavy damage to the Miami metro area as well (getting rid of the few places my wife liked there other than the beautiful Art Deco hotel we stayed at in SoBe). Irma would have a statewide rainfall peak of 21.66 inches and cause flooding all the way up to Northeast FL in the Jacksonville area, with an estimated $50 billion in damages. On September 24, hurricane Maria would effect the East Coast of FL and cause flooding, wind damage, and promt 22 water rescues.
On October 10, 2018 hurricane Michael hit near the Florida panhandle, but it was a strong storm and effected a wide area, the second most intense hurricane to hit FL to the 1935 Labor Day hurricane. 2020 would see an overactive hurricane season, with more storms than "names" for them all. On May 25 - 27 tropical storm Bertha dumped 7.4 inches of rain in Miami in one day, caused Crew Dragon Demo-2 to be cancelled, and produced heavy rain all through East Central Florida. On June 6 - 7 tropical storm Cristobal spawned 6 tornadoes in FL, including an EF1 strength storm in the Orlando area. On September 10 - 15 hurricane Sally came ashore in Alabama, but dropped heavy rainfall across FL. Pensacola saw a storm surge on par with this 1926 hurricane, and 3 people died in FL. On November 7 - 9, 2020 tropical storm Eta made two landfalls in FL, bringing storm surge, strong winds, heavy rainfall, and flash flooding to much of the state. In September 26, 2022 hurricane Ian started passing through FL. Starting from the Florida Keys it intensified before coming ashore near Punta Gorda on the 27th, Ian brought a massive storm surge to Southwest Florida. Ian would cross the entire state, causing damage from Miami to Inland Central Florida, and exiting Northeast FL, before continuing to the Carolinas. Ian still has damage remnants on Sanibel Island and Pine Island FL - causing 161 casualties from the Caribbean to the Carolinas, 150 in Florida.
So yeah, that "global warming" could be said to be having a real impact - as we can see with the storms in recent times here in Florida, and how warm this winter has been.
The Marx Brothers play and movie "The Cocoanuts" was a spoof of the Florida land boom.
Chico: "We read inna papers, 'Big Boom in Florida.' We figure, hey, we a coupla big booms, too!"
Groucho later lost his money in the stock market crash.
And Florida Developers and Home Buyers are so concerned about the next Big One . That finding a Square Foot of Florida Coastline that is not Developed is getting nearly impossible .
People are short-sighted, greedy developers happy to develop real estate then leave it as someone else's problem. Then buyers who buy their piece of "paradise" not realizing the danger. Not to mention that with climate change these hurricanes will only get stronger and more frequent, plus sea level rise that will leave them inundated even on sunny days. It's all stories of making a quick buck today, greed and stupidity.
Thank you so much for this video! I was born and raised in Coral Gables and got my degree from the U of M, but I had only a vague appreciation of the magnitude of this storm. We had a neighbor who survived the hurricane as a child only because his mother tied them both to a palm tree. (Their fibrous roots do a grand job of anchoring the trunk while the fronds flail around in the wind.) The trauma haunted him his entire life. Now I understand why any kind of high wind turned him into a nervous wreck.
Miami is up there with New Orleans on the "why would you build there?" scale
Having spent 55 of my 61 years growing up in South Florida, this was golden. Good job!
A fun fact about Coral Gables: It was advertised as America’s Riviera back in the day. As a current resident of Coral Gables and someone who attended ROTC at UM for a year, it is really awesome to see this history being spread about a place with amazing history. I suggest anyone who comes to Miami for a week spend at least a day on the Miracle Mile or at the Biltmore Hotel.
I moved to MIami in 1976. I lived through the scare of David in 1979 and the destruction of Andrew in 1992 and I can assure you that living through something like that is no joke. My home was completely leveled in "92. But for the fact that my wife and year old son sheltered with me at my parents over built town home I might not be here today.
FWIW: I have lived in North Carolina since the mid-1990s, but I was born and raised in Saint Petersburg, Florida. I was living in northern Dade County in 1992 when Hurricane Andrew came ashore in southern Dade County.
As a US Navy recruiter once told me years earlier regarding USN boot camp: _"It_ [was] _NOT an orgasmic experience."_ That description was quite appropo to hurricane Andrew as well....
I have a graduate degree from the University of Miami. I recall that pre1926 buildings were rare and it seemed that time started after the 1926 hurricane.
As someone from the Caribbean, it's weird to know there was a time when Floridians didn't know about the eye of a hurricane. We learned about it before we could cross the street alone.
I learned about it as a kid and I went to public school in WA state. It's amazing how much more educated we are as a society even on basic things like that.
Makes sense, only the ones born in Florida knew. Most of them were newly moved into the state. Back in the day, information on stuff like that was a lot harder to get unless you had personal experience.
Much like how you would know nothing of the weather patterns in Canada if you moved there in the early 1900s.
Cities amaze me with their ability to recover.
London, Chicago, San Francisco, and now, I'm learning, Miami.
It gives me hope as to our resiliency. If we can survive fires, earthquakes, and hurricanes, maybe we can just make it through the world.
but can we survive the lib ideology? and that was when co2 was close to the "ideal" 300ppm. Tony Heller has 1,000's of utubes with real data and history on the co2 is killing the planet lie. ruclips.net/video/wmru3wNlQzQ/видео.html
I saw the destruction of Hurricane Andrew 2 weeks after it hit Homestead in 1992. The devastation was incredible. I was part of a cleanup crew for a retail store. It wasnt until decade later when the Doppler radar was closely analyzed by a Japanese researcher that it was discovered that the eye wall of Hurricane Andrew was lined with F5 tornadoes that left a "rake" pattern on the ground.
I always 👍🏼 THG videos as soon as I get the notification - before I even watch them. They are always THAT GOOD!
Now this hits home. My family arrived in Miami in 1923, and we've been here ever since. My grandmother told us about that big sailing steamer on Flagler Street, it was full of lumber carried in from the high tide surges. My family was further out west near the Allapattah area. We survived just fine and not much damage to the house, just neighborhood cleanup. In downtown Miami took a while to get back in order, get the boats off the streets by jacking them up and rollering them back in the water. My grandfather was a carpenter, so it money, money, money for him. But between the 1926 and 1935 Hurricanes, our building codes took a big leap. No longer were buildings and houses be built of wood, now everything is built out of concrete and block. We're also life long Miami Hurricane fans 🙌 🌀 through it all, good bad and ugly. We still support our team. Thanks THG, great research. A lot of your pictures I haven't seen before. Not a lot of cameras back then.
Most of the photos are from the Florida State Archive. www.floridamemory.com/discover/photographs/
The buildings are since then strong I was in Miami in Katrina on a sailboat the buildings did well but old trees uprooted and half the boats destroyed
@@TheHistoryGuyChannel Good job, great research, I'll have check it out. Thank you,
@@chhindz Katrina went over us as a Cat 1 with no damage to mention, but it got in the Gulf and powered up to a Cat 4 and walluped Florida Alabama and Mississippi
Mr.NaughtyPants Two dead boaters and 100 destroyed boats may not be worth mentioning to some non boaters
Some of those Pirates were the land speculators of the time in question.
Ok... The intro graphics and sound.... WHUUUUUUUUUUUUUT!?!!?? AWESOME!!!...2. Lookin snazzy professah, sna zeee
I don't have much to add to the conversation but wanted to say that I really like your videos. I wish I'd have more teachers like you throughout my life.
11:53 looks like it distorted that hydro pole.
Hey Lance, I enjoy listening to your wonderful way of story telling, please don’t stop!
I live in Lake Jackson and work in Freeport, Texas. Today is my first day back since hurricane Nicholas. We usually leave for hurricanes, but this one crept up on us. By the time we knew it was a bad one, it was too late to leave.
Now I understand the Marks Brothers better than before. Thank you
Another TOP-NOTCH REPORT from the impeccable HISTORY GUY! Thank You, Sir!!
I grew up in Miami in the 60's. I heard the storm of '26 called, "Hurricane Tom" which was, until recently, the only storm with a male name. I never heard the term, "the big blow" referring to the storm.
Interesting, yet sobering! It kind of reminds me of the hurricane that hit Galveston, TX in 1900. I'm very glad we have modern weather predicting satellites, and ways to get warnings out!
Yes, all these storms are the stuff of nightmares, but the '1900 Galveston Hurricane' is an absolutely horrifying and harrowing story. I watched the 'Perfect Storms' documentary on the event and was haunted by what I had heard and seen for the next several days. The shear carnage is stupefying; upwards of up to 8,000 to 12,000 dead!! And the aftermath was positively medieval, with carts and barges of the dead; funeral pyres all up and down the beaches. Mankind had no business placing that kind of urbanization on a barrier island as in Galveston. When in contemplation of some images captured in the immediate aftermath of the '1900 Storm', you could be forgiven if you experience a sense that the destruction of atomic weaponry is not so complete. Truly a "red-letter" date, September 8th, 1900; the beginning of the 20th Century was less than 4 months off, but the 19th Century was to show that it still had some teeth. In terms of fatalities, it IS (present tense) the worst natural disaster ever to have occurred in the United States. I pray that this record will never be surpassed.
@@jamest2401 👍Yes, I agree, the Galvaston hurricane of 1900 was horrific - much worse than Miami in 1926. I've watched several videos on the subject, including one called Isaac's Storm. Also, I'm amazed that the people of Galvaston rebuilt, and even raised the level of the city by 10 feet! What an impressive feat of engineering and determination!
@@valerier4308 raising the city of Galveston ten feet might not be enough these days. The current shoreline code here in Southern New England is to build on 14 foot pillars.
@@goodun2974 👍Wow, I didn't know that!
My son and daughter are graduates of Miami Univ. When my daughter lived in South Miami she survived Cat 5 Andrew She now lives in the FL Panhandle where she survived Cat 5 Michael. My son fled to San Fransisco where he experienced the 1989 earthquake.
I so enjoy your storytelling.
My grandfather left his farm in South Ga in the care of his wife and children and went to Miami after the storm.
He worked for almost a year and a half in the clean up and what rebuilding went on. The money he made and saved helped them make it through the Depression, it was still lean hard times.
As a Florida resident who went through hurricane Andrew in the early 90’s I can relate
I would be interested to hear your take on Hurricane Camille, in 1969, in the Gulf Coast region.
That one was really bad.
Out of the probably hundreds of different channels I watch on RUclips there are a small handful that I automatically thumbs up apon watching before I hear anything. This is one of them. Great stuff. Gives me the ability to learn about all this history that I have zero time to research myself.
My grandfather was an out of work building auper who moved to Miami during the late 30s because of a construction job hookup by a Lodge Brother, then they moved to Atlanta when my Dad was in Jr High. I saw the aftermath of Andrew firsthand, and this was exponentially worse. Good thing it wasn't a direct hit on Miami! Thanks Lance!
My dad was an infant when this storm hit. But he remembers hearing the other adults talking about it even years later.
Check out my comment above in the comments section above!
It's amazing how 95 years later everyone knows about a hurricane before it hits and all the technology we have
What is more amazing is the number of people who have advance notice of an impending storm but ignore the advice, or order, to evacuate. Granted, some cannot afford to leave, have no car, or have nowhere else to go, or have an elderly family member who can't be transported; but if you are able to leave and yet decide to stay behind, that's just stupid, and puts emergency responders in jeopardy if they have to rescue you.
One of the photos in this video is an aerial view of the port showing a large sailing ship on its side in the water. The ship was the Prinz Valdemar. It had actually capsized there in January 1926 well before the storm. There is a good history of it on Wikipedia. The big five masted ship that was shown on shore in a couple of the photos was the Rose Mahoney. I was given a piece of the wood hull planking by the son of one of the men who demolished her after the storm. I gave the plank to the History Miami Museum.
As someone who has lived in Miami since the late 1960’s and an alumni of the University of Miami it is interesting to hear the details of that 1926 storm. Unfortunately with continued growth, the area lures people who are not familiar with the damage a large and powerful storm can do. In reality the 1926 storm is the only large storm (4 or 5) that has directly hit the center on the city center. Andrew in 1992 was the last large impact storm to hit area, the center of that storm went through homestead which is located at least 30 miles south of downtown. From experience the severe damage of storms occurs 15 miles from the center. If miami was hit dead center like the 1926 storm today the destruction would be devastating. Hoping our luck does not run out anytime soon. Very well on recapping this historic event,. Go Canes !!! 🙌
Another reason to listen to and be a student of history. This storm and others have plagued of coastal times on our little rock in the universe. Cheers from Galveston my friend and most certain educator
I can relate to this, I survived Hurricane Maria .The destruction and aftermath was one of the worst things i've ever been through.
My husband and I would love to see you do a video on the battle of Picacho Peak, also known as the battle of Picacho Pass from the US Civil War. We believe you are one of the few people who could do it justice.
I like that you were wearing an orange shirt for this episode, a nice touch.
This guy is the best !!!! Another great show
I will put up with snow, thank you. Been through several hurricanes and that's my limit.
Have you done the Veterans Hurricane of 1935? A very tragic storm down in the middle Keyes, I think.
Thank you for your interesting takes on history!
Excellent story On the 1926 hurricane.
The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 is the legendary storm in these parts. The history is not nearly as forgotten.
Being a Florida native I find all things historical about our State fascinating!
Thank you for great content and topics!
One thing that I have loosely looked into is the journey through Florida that Panfilo de Narvaez had taken. He is said to have landed at Jungle Prada and then had quite the adventure. Perhaps a video on this might be rather interesting?
I would recommend the book "Last Train to Paradise." It's the story of Henry Flagler's building of the Florida East Coast Railroad to Key West and how the 1926 hurricane ended that. Good read.
This was an excellent video. It is also a reasonable warning tot hose on the gulf coast, do not assume you will have a bright tomorrow since the weather may make a mockery of your plans. Thank you History Guy for covering all of this!
The place where we have vacationed for 30 years was scoured completely down to rock on St. John in the USVI...they had just renovated the villas on the resort the year before. Not a stick of wood was left where we used to stay, but the old historic sugar mill with its 3 ft. thick walls of solid rock is still there. That's how we plan to build, stone and interiors that can take water...I still love it there, you just can't expect not to get a direct hit eventually. I looked up storm records for the area and every 70 years there is a huge storm that takes out everything...
Every thing except Sugar Mills it seems?
There was a cover story in Architectural Digest years ago featuring a house on St. John that was built around an old sugar mill. A couple of years later a hurricane took out the house and yard, but the sugar mill was fine. So they literally rebuilt around it using stone and cement and teak...the magazine featured the house again and it was perfect. I cannot even begin to imagine what it cost....
Fascinating, none of this is ever mentioned when discussing the Great Depression, and it would seem to be just one of many dominoes in that period of our history.
It didn't cause The Great Depression, as such I don't see why it would be mentioned.
@@AlexMartinez-me2yc I didn't say that it caused the Great Depression, simply that it was a factor
The Dust Bowl that plunged many farmers in the prairies into poverty also contributed to the Great Depression
@@robskalas Yes, but we are taught that
it was years later for most of the country… but it signaled the start of the depression in florida
I wonder how the area of the recent Hurricane Ian would have fared if the buildings were made to 1926 standards, and the residents had had no warning.
Thank God for a better understanding of these storms, and the preparedness that has been put into place in Florida since Andrew.
Thanks again HG. !
My Polish grandmother and Scotch Irish grandfather left behind 40 acers in Coral Gables and moved to Virginia.
The passion for history that is evident in your voice makes your videos come to life. I love every one of them.
It's important to be reminded that severe weather events - hurricanes, sub-zero cold snaps, snowstorms etc. are nothing new.
How dare you? Lol
MUH CLIMATE CHANGEROONIES
1926 was a terrible year for hurricanes. One hit Mobile, Ala and swept water a mile inland (and she's on a river at the top of a 30 mile bay, protected by barrier islands...which were under 25 to 30 ft of Gulf surge, but few lived there back then) .
1936 another hit, snd the worst was the 1906 Mobile Bay hurricane. My grandmother called it the curse if the 6s, as she was born in 1899 and that happened all through her younger life.
Two hurricanes, assumed to be Cat5+ hit Biloxi in 1863 a few weeks apart.
The French had to abandon a port on Dauphin Island in 1702 because a hurricane rearranged the island and filled the deep cove.
The likely worst year on record is 1938 if I'm remembering right. Before 1965 most storms went untracked and unknown unless they hit a city or a ship that survived.
Most of the alarmist recent records are fir named storms, a practice that started about 55 years ago... In a period of lower than average hurricane activity.
Weather in North America is just downright scary.
@@VideoAmericanStyle has it? Are we sure? Or are we just seeing a recent swing and using data starting with the space age, simply because the data is more complete, neater and easier to record and quantify.
Data before 1962 was very spotty. Data before offshore aviation in sturdy metal planes was almost completely missing. Data in the age of sail is mostly legend.
@@VideoAmericanStyle if you look at most trend graphs that weather alert groups publish, the base starts around 1965 or the year of "Named Storms" . That's on them for either being lazy or purposely selective.
Even the NHC says the information before 1945 is highly incomplete, and they will list statistical guesses at the number of storms that went unnoticed each year.
In any case you can't do anything about it. Definately not while continuing to use plastic buddies to fill your hours at work and at home.
Thank you for sharing your research THG
Great shirt & bow tie HG. You, the man
As always, great job!
Thanks for keeping history interesting. I really like your style
Gives you a good idea of what’s to come. Like San Francisco & New Orleans, Miami is a city on Death Row.