The effects of the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane in Florida included at least 2,500 fatalities in the state, making this the fourth-deadliest tropical cyclone on record in the United States and the second-deadliest on the country's mainland. The storm originated from a tropical depression that developed near Senegal on September 6. Traversing westward across the Atlantic Ocean, the cyclone struck the Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico, and the Bahamas as a powerful hurricane. Early on September 17, the storm struck Palm Beach, Florida, as a Category 4 hurricane on the modern-day Saffir–Simpson scale. After initially moving northwestward across Florida, the cyclone curved north-northeastward near Tampa. The hurricane briefly re-emerged into the Atlantic prior to striking South Carolina on September 18 and becoming extratropical over North Carolina on the next day, before the remnants lost their identity over Ontario on September 21.
The most extensive damage in Florida occurred in Palm Beach County. In West Palm Beach, the storm demolished 268 businesses and damaged 490 others while destroying 1,711 houses and impacting 6,369 others. Damage in the city amounted to $13.8 million (1928 USD; $ in ). Hundreds of structures suffered damage in Palm Beach, while few buildings and homes in other nearby coastal cities escaped impacts. Inland, strong winds pushed water from the shallow Lake Okeechobee above the small dikes, inundating southern and eastern shore communities with water up to above ground. The storm swept away or destroyed many structures and drowned at least 2,500 people, most of whom were black migrant farm workers. Millions of dollars in agricultural and structural damage occurred elsewhere in the state, especially south of Orlando. Throughout Florida, the hurricane impacted 32,414 structures, with 9,860 of those destroyed. Overall, damage totaled at least $25 million ($ in ), while Governor John W. Martin estimated that the hurricane left approximately 15,000 families homeless in Palm Beach County alone.
In the immediate aftermath of the storm, individuals and organizations across the United States assisted with relief efforts, especially the American Red Cross, which obtained almost $5.9 million ($ in ) in monetary donations. Racial segregation laws at the time resulted in many white victims receiving a proper burial at Woodlawn Cemetery in West Palm Beach. However, those collecting and transporting bodies either burned or mass buried black victims or those of an unknown race, especially at the Port Mayaca Cemetery and a pauper's cemetery in West Palm Beach, the latter remaining unmarked until 2003. Florida's economy, already faltering due to the land boom ending, fell into turmoil even before the Wall Street crash of 1929 and the Great Depression began. The regions worst impacted by the storm did not experience a significant economic rebound until the United States entered World War II. To prevent a similar disaster from reoccurring in the communities surrounding Lake Okeechobee, construction of the Herbert Hoover Dike began in the 1930s.
Background
A tropical depression developed almost immediately offshore the west coast of Africa on September 6, near Dakar, Senegal. The depression strengthened into a tropical storm later that day, shortly before passing south of the Cape Verde Islands. Further intensification was halted by late on September 7. However, about 48 hours later, the storm resumed strengthening and became a Category 1 hurricane on the modern-day Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale. The system reached Category 4 intensity before striking Guadeloupe on September 12. Around midday on September 13, the storm strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane while moving west-northwestward, peaking with maximum sustained winds of . About six hours later, the system made landfall in Puerto Rico; it remains the only tropical cyclone known to have struck the island as a Category 5 hurricane. After emerging into the Atlantic, the storm weakened slightly, falling to Category 4 intensity, and traversed the Bahamas between September 15 and September 16.
The storm maintained Category 4 intensity through its landfall near Palm Beach, Florida, at 00:00 UTC on September 17 with sustained winds of 145 mph (230 km/h). While crossing Florida, the system weakened significantly, falling to Category 1 intensity late on September 17 just north of the Tampa Bay area. Thereafter, the storm curved north-northeastward and briefly re-emerged into the Atlantic on September 18, but soon made another landfall near Edisto Island, South Carolina, with winds of . Early on the following day, the system weakened to a tropical storm and transitioned into an extratropical cyclone over North Carolina hours later. The remnants moved northwestward across the Mid-Atlantic region before dissipating over Ontario on September 21.
After World War I, South Florida experienced a land boom, which brought new construction and large population increases, including the quadrupling of West Palm Beach's population between 1920 and 1927. However, the land boom began faltering after news spread about the 1926 Miami hurricane and real estate scams. In contrast to the quickly-growing coastal areas, the communities along the shore of Lake Okeechobee more closely resembled an agrarian society, with agricultural productivity rapidly taking hold in the area due to the rich, black muck soil. A 1945 St. Louis Post-Dispatch article estimated that approximately 5,000 migrant farm workers resided in this region at the time of the 1928 hurricane, many living in shacks and tents.
A mud dike averaging only in height surrounded Lake Okeechobee prior to the 1928 hurricane. In 1926, the Miami hurricane breached the southwest side of this dike, devastating Clewiston and Moore Haven and drowning as many as 300 people. Florida chief engineer Fred C. Elliott recognized the necessity of constructing a levee at least since 1920 to prevent flooding around Lake Okeechobee. Congressman Herbert J. Drane also attempted to secure federal authorization and funding for flood control around the lake since 1924 because the state did not have enough funds, but without success.
Preparations Forecasters such as Richard W. Gray, chief meteorologist at the Weather Bureau office in Miami, initially believed that the hurricane would not threaten Florida, predicting on September 12 that the storm would move westward and eventually dissipate over the Yucatán Channel. However, the hurricane instead moved northwestward after striking Puerto Rico. On September 14, a newspaper noted that there "seemed to be a tendency toward a curve eastward," meaning that a landfall in Florida was highly unlikely. A. J. Mitchell of the Jacksonville Weather Bureau office and Gray then reaffirmed predictions that the storm would not threaten the state. Mariano Gutiérrez-Lanza of the Jesuit observatory in Belen, Cuba, agreed and noted that neither Cubans nor Floridians should be concerned about the hurricane. However, that same day, September 14, a weather report received by a wireless station in Jupiter indicated that Florida would experience the storm to some extent.
Although The Palm Beach Post began acknowledging on September 15 that the hurricane may strike Florida, Gray remained mostly confident that the storm would not make landfall in Florida and instead predicted that winds would reach only . However, Gray still issued storm warnings from Miami to Titusville and advised taking precautions should the hurricane threaten the southeast Florida. Early on September 16, the Weather Bureau issued a hurricane warning from Miami to Daytona Beach, predicted a landfall near Jupiter, and discussed the potential for strong winds and destructive high tides. The Weather Bureau posted a hurricane warning from Punta Rassa to Cedar Key, stretching it north to Apalachicola on September 17 and extending the hurricane warnings along the east coast to Jacksonville.
Despite the initially perceived improbability of landfall in the days preceding the storm's passage, the West Palm Beach chapter of the American Red Cross (ARC) began preparing for the hurricane. West Palm Beach residents prepared by purchasing emergency supplies such as candles, kerosene lamps, and boards. A number of residents boarded up their homes and then secured their ornamental trees and plants. About 500 people each sought shelter at the Gulf Stream Hotel, Palm Beach County Courthouse, and Salvation Army Home, and some 1,000 persons at West Palm Beach's Pennsylvania Hotel. In Jupiter, 20 people stayed in a grocery store and 25 others at a school. A number of black people took shelter in a school building in West Jupiter.
At the Lake Okeechobee region, Dr. William J. Buck, likely the only doctor between Pahokee and Moore Haven, questioned the Weather Bureau's early predictions of the storm missing South Florida. Consequently, he and his legionnaires warned area residents about the approaching cyclone. At South Bay, Frank Schuster made several car trips to save 211 people by transporting them to higher ground. Seminoles on the Brighton Seminole Indian Reservation evacuated to higher ground after observing retreating wildlife. A reverend from Okeechobee described traffic leaving the Lake Okeechobee area as making the highways resemble "a one way street" on September 15 and September 16. Hours before the storm struck, many people in the communities surrounding Lake Okeechobee crowded into a house or building they believed was securest, with the Belle Glade Hotel having nearly 150 refugees.
Along the west coast of Florida, the threat of the hurricane led to the temporary suspension of shipping at Fort Myers, while the United States Coast Guard moved several vessels into the port. In St. Petersburg, vessel owners moved them to land, nearly emptying three yacht basins.
Impact
The Weather Bureau estimated that sustained winds may have exceeded in Lake Worth, Palm Beach, and West Palm Beach. Sustained tropical storm-force winds extended as far south as Key West and stretched to parts of the state's northeast and west coasts, but remained at or less in Apalachicola, Pensacola, and Tampa. The eye at landfall may have been approximately wide. Wind gusts may have reached at Canal Point, though the anemometer blew away after reporting sustained winds of . West Palm Beach observed a barometric pressure of , making the storm one of three cyclones to strike the southern mainland of Florida with a central pressure below , the others being the 1926 Miami hurricane and Hurricane Andrew in 1992. That reading was also the lowest recorded on land in the United States at the time.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates that the hurricane caused approximately $25 million ($ in ) in damage. However, an impact survey conducted by Judge E. B. Donnell's committee tallied $33.9 million ($ in ) in damage – exclusively in Palm Beach County – which the ARC regarded as conservative because it does not account for "damage to sea walls, docks, bridges, crops, highways, farm machinery, house furnishings, etc." Furthermore, Florida Governor John W. Martin estimated the hurricane caused $50 million ($ in ) in damage in Palm Beach County alone. Based on wealth normalization, NOAA estimated that nearly $35.3 billion (2010 USD; $ in ) in damage would occur if a similar storm struck in 2010.