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We are approaching the 80th anniversary of the Labor Day Hurricane, which occurred Sept. 2nd, 1935. It was the strongest hurricane to ever hit the US coastline, with wind speeds exceeding 200mph hitting the epicenter of Islamorada, which it completely destroyed. The storm surge was 18ft. The atmospheric pressure hit 892 millibars, the lowest for a hurricane on record in the US, which means it was the most intense storm we have had. By comparison, Hurricane Andrew, which is only the 3rd most intense hurricane to hit the US, was 922 millibars.
At that time, the Keys were not nearly as populated as they are now. The bulk of the people living in this remote island outpost were workers on the great Flagler railroad/Florida East Coast Railway, which was the first series of bridges and accompanying train tracks to ever connect these islands together (although the Keys themselves encompass some 200 miles of islands, and the railroad only connected about 100 miles of these islands, with the furthest point being Key West, which was at that time a thriving commercial port for fishing, sponging, pineapples, and other crops, cigars, as well as wrecking (salvage of wreck ships on the nearby reef). The Labor Hurricane killed 485 people, about half of whom were veterans living in camps to work on the railroad. Most of the victims were never found, so the numbers could be higher than that, including people who were not documented as being in the Keys in the first place.
The railroad was the mastermind of enterprising tycoon Henry Flagler, who envisioned a safe, comfortable ride for the wealthy to the Florida Keys, which was to be a new top vacation destination for the US wealthy class. The railway was officially completed after years of backbreaking and apparently impossible work, in 1912, and began regular service after that from Jacksonville to Key West. Flagler built posh hotels all along the railroad line, and established agriculture in each town to support these towns and their new visitors, which was the beginning of Florida becoming a tourist state with an agricultural industry. So if you don't like the hordes of people who now flock to the whole of Florida every year both to vacation and to reside, blame Flagler. Flagler extended the railroad to Key West not only to take advantage of tourism for the 1%, and trade like for sponges and pineapples, but also because of the US's newly announced project of building the Panama Canal in 1905, for which he saw enormous potentials for profit.
The bridge system which connected the islands of the Keys were an innovative wonder at that time, a true engineering marvel that was replicated in places all over the world afterward. No one ever believed they could be built, because they had to able to withstand both deep ocean currents, and hurricanes. Flagler proved them wrong. But in fact, the Labor Day Hurricane was so intense that it decimated the railroad, while a relief car was traveling down to rescue people. It was struck at the epicenter of Islamorada, and the passengers were killed. No help arrived to the people in the Lower Keys, and the railroad was so decimated it was never repaired. Eventually, the present day Overseas Hwy was built, which reconnected all the Keys by road, using some of the original infrastructure but leaving many segments of the railroad as standalone testaments to what once was, including the famous railroad bridge segment in Bahia Honda State Park.
A warning WAS put out the day before the hurricane arrived, on Sept. 1st. But naturally not everyone heard that message in time, as various areas of the Keys were rather remote. And as is common with so many hurricanes, many people opted to stay. Certainly, there was not as much time as we have today, nor as much accurate information, to allow people who by and large had little money time to evacuate. Miami too was in a panic, because initially of course that much larger city had no certainty of where the coming storm was going to hit.
Similar to public outrage at Hurricane Katrina, Ernest Hemingway, who had lived in Key West for a time, wrote a scathing magazine article called "Who Killed the Vets?"
Some more fascinating details can be found here: 1935hurr
Before and afters:
The manager of the Caribbee Colony and his wife both died in the hurricane.
The remains above are still there to visit on Lignumvitae Key, after a boat or kayak ride to get there for the tour that still runs of the grounds. For reference, Lignumvitae Key is about 18ft in elevation, so much of the damage pictured here was from wind alone.
Today there is a hurricane memorial you can visit in Islamorada, where some of the ashes of the dead are buried. Cremation had to be used because of the mass number of bodies and the heat, which cause the govt. a serious fear of disease outbreak. Some bodies found were never able to be identified, so all were given a mass military funeral just in case.
Something to think about. 80 years, in the span of all hurricane history, isn't that long. And although less and less every year, there are still people alive who lived through it.
I think there is some debate about whether or not it is the strong to hit the US mainland, but regardless it was an incredible storm.
Hurricane intensity is measured by atmospheric pressure, so it is not considered subjective. The Labor Day Hurricane holds the record for having the lowest atmospheric pressure of any hurricane ON LANDFALL in the US. So this does not include storms that had lower pressure readings while still out in the ocean. The lowest US landfall reading ever recorded was the 1935 hurricane, at 892mb.
However, I made a mistake above: Hurricane Andrew (922mb) is only in 4th place, as both Hurricane Camille (909mb) and Hurricane Katrina (920mb) are before it. (Hurricane Wilma had the lowest pressure recorded for an Atlantic storm at 882mb, but that was NOT while it was over land in the US.)
To clarify, "intensity" is not the same as ranking largest, fastest winds, highest rainfall, most damage, etc. Measuring top wind speeds is problematic, as all sorts of things can break off equipment at its worst. So they measure pressure, which generally directly corresponds to wind speed/strength.
Calling a hurricane officially the "most intense" does not necessarily mean it was the most costly, the most devastating to life or property, or "the worst" as a general experience. It's referring only to the intensity of the wind. And actual wind readings may not be reflected in the ranking, because while it is a guideline, Hurricane wilma for instance didn't have the highest winds ever, although it did have a ton of rain. Likewise storms with higher winds did not have the lowest recorded pressure. It's not really a perfect system. But when they call the Labor Hurricane the most intense in US history, they mean lowest pressure recorded on land.
Hurricane intensity is measured by atmospheric pressure, so it is not considered subjective. The Labor Day Hurricane holds the record for having the lowest atmospheric pressure of any hurricane ON LANDFALL in the US. So this does not include storms that had lower pressure readings while still out in the ocean. The lowest US landfall reading ever recorded was the 1935 hurricane, at 892mb.
However, I made a mistake above: Hurricane Andrew (922mb) is only in 4th place, as both Hurricane Camille (909mb) and Hurricane Katrina (920mb) are before it. (Hurricane Wilma had the lowest pressure recorded for an Atlantic storm at 882mb, but that was NOT while it was over land in the US.)
To clarify, "intensity" is not the same as ranking largest, fastest winds, highest rainfall, most damage, etc. Measuring top wind speeds is problematic, as all sorts of things can break off equipment at its worst. So they measure pressure, which generally directly corresponds to wind speed/strength.
Calling a hurricane officially the "most intense" does not necessarily mean it was the most costly, the most devastating to life or property, or "the worst" as a general experience. It's referring only to the intensity of the wind. And actual wind readings may not be reflected in the ranking, because while it is a guideline, Hurricane wilma for instance didn't have the highest winds ever, although it did have a ton of rain. Likewise storms with higher winds did not have the lowest recorded pressure. It's not really a perfect system. But when they call the Labor Hurricane the most intense in US history, they mean lowest pressure recorded on land.
No disagreement there, I think the debate surrounded wind speed. Camille was an exceptionally strong hurricane, but I've still got a feeling the Labor Day hurricane is still number one in that respect too.
No disagreement there, I think the debate surrounded wind speed. Camille was an exceptionally strong hurricane, but I've still got a feeling the Labor Day hurricane is still number one in that respect too.
I can't imagine what it must have been like to live in such a remote place, with none of the warning systems we have in place today and none of the accuracy, being every day of the season at total whim of the ocean and the weather. I can see why all of the accounts I have read of the early days (circa 1900-1930s) describe a lot of residents moving to the Keys for jobs or a tropical adventure, and moving back out quickly when they could not handle the extreme heat, the bugs, the unpredictable and sometimes violent weather, the isolation...
The idea of your skin bleeding because of the speed the sand it hitting you, your house being completely ripped away along with all of your clothes, tying your children to trees to try to save them, ending up floating on a pile of wooden debris in the middle of the ocean and not knowing where you are or where the islands used to be or if you will ever see anything familiar again... it is truly astounding that anyone survived.
Facing a Katrina or an Andrew in today's modern world is terrifying, and I suppose to some extent conditions can be worse because of the large amounts of people and buildings to contend with, debris and bodies piling up and blocking emergency vehicles. But the idea of facing a storm of that magnitude on your wooden houseboat, or with just your small town around you for support, is pretty unspeakable. I am amazed in light of that, and in light of the MANY serious hurricanes which have hit the Keys directly in a relatively short span of time, that in the 50s people began rapidly building up the Keys as a year-round place to live. The memory of the Labor Day hurricane, as well as other major hurricanes, was still fresh in the minds of many at that time.
The Keys had direct hits from major hurricanes that caused a huge amount of damage in 1906, 1909, 1910, then again in 1919, TWO bad ones in 1926, and another Cat 4 or 5 in 1929, all before the Labor Day Hurricane hit. Then another Cat 5 hit Homestead in 1945, TWO hurricanes that were accompanied by two tornadoes hit in 1947, one major hurricane and a second smaller one AGAIN in 1948, and one in Ft. Lauderdale in 1950 that caused damage in the Upper Keys. You would think with all of this major hurricane activity in such a remote place, which had decimated their previous costly transportation system which was the only thing that connected them to each other and the mainland, that they would shy away from building here. But instead, tons of houses went up in the 1950s. Then Hurricane Donna hit in 1960, which people in the Keys still talk about today, causing massive destruction with winds of 180mph and surges of 13.5ft. In 1965, Hurricane Betsy caused yet more serious damage. And yet, furious construction continued throughout the 1960s as people determined to make the Florida Keys their home.
Hurricane Betsy was a scary one because it also radically changed course several times, and was one of the only hurricanes to ever mke landfall in the US after having come from the North::
Many people who live in the Keys say they would rather be here for a hurricane than almost anywhere else, because the Keys are so used to hurricanes, and the emergency worker system and housing codes are more prepared than perhaps anyplace else. But we are also more vulnerable to being wiped completely off the map than most other places.
Back in 1935, I don't know how some of the old Conch families could deal with the total uncertainty in their lives of catastrophe at any second. I can see why some accounts I have read of the storm from people who had only moved to the Keys within the few years before the Labor Day Hurricane, say they decided to move back out afterwards. For people from Ohio or wherever, it would be just too much to deal with. All the more so once the railroad which people took so much pride in, and relied on so heavily, was gone, never to be rebuilt again.
Such a very different time from what it is like to live here now, and even so, it is still more difficult to live in the Keys than it is to live in most other equally populated areas of the mainland US, due to lack of access to things people in other places take for granted.
I find these islands fascinating, because they have always been extremely difficult to survive on, and yet people continue to be drawn to them century after century, trying to make them livable, and trying to accept the inevitable hardships in exchange for the natural beauty that is a part of this place.
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