Okeechobee Hurricane of 1928

The Event: North Atlantic hurricane that caused massive damage and loss of life in Florida

Date: September 16, 1928

Place: South Florida

In 1928, the Okeechobee Hurricane resulted in the second greatest loss of life of any hurricane to hit the United States during the twentieth century. Nearly two thousand people died when Lake Okeechobee in south Florida overflowed, and thousands of homes and acres of cropland were destroyed. As a result, federally approved flood protection was implemented, building codes were improved, and the Herbert Hoover Dike was built to prevent such floods in the future.

It would not be until the late 1940s that hurricanes were given human names. In the 1920s, hurricanes were instead named for the place they did the most damage or the date on which they made landfall. The Okeechobee Hurricane was named for the south Florida lake it crossed in 1928, devastating the communities surrounding it.

The first warning of the hurricane’s approach was on September 10, from a ship 900 miles east of the island of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. The storm hit Guadeloupe on September 12, killing approximately a thousand people and destroying nearly every building on the island. After hitting Puerto Rico on September 13, the storm crossed the Bahamas and made landfall on the southeastern coast of Florida on September 16 as a category 4 storm with sustained winds of 130 to 155 miles per hour.

Coastal South Florida

Thanks to early warnings, residents of coastal Florida were prepared for the storm, and loss of life was minimal, at twenty-six recorded dead. Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Hollywood suffered minor damage to homes and businesses, but the area surrounding West Palm Beach witnessed the destruction of over seventeen hundred homes and several million dollars in damage. Reports claim that houses in the city were blown off their foundations, and Clematis Street, the main thoroughfare, resembled a lumber yard. Many city buildings were completely flooded or swept away. The greatest damage, however, occurred fifty miles inland along the southern shores of Lake Okeechobee.

Lake Okeechobee

Lake Okeechobee has an area of 720 square miles, and in 1928 had several residential and farming communities established around its perimeter. The lake’s water level was already three feet higher than normal on September 16 due to heavy rains in previous weeks. Residents were notified of the approaching storm that day and left, but it was late arriving, so many returned to their homes, thinking it had missed the area. As the northerly winds strengthened during the evening, the lake began to rise. At least ten inches of rain fell throughout the night as hurricane-force winds blew. A levee that protected the area south of the lake broke, washing away thousands of acres of farmland and the dikes used to protect them. Because the lake was in an isolated area in 1928, it would be three days before government aid would arrive. Due to the difficult terrain, the vast area involved, and the slowly receding floodwaters, it would be six weeks before the search for bodies was ended. Over two thousand residents of the communities surrounding Lake Okeechobee were killed, but the exact number is unknown. Three-quarters of the inhabitants were migrant farm workers, many of whom were swept deep into the Everglades when the dikes broke, and their bodies were never recovered.

Impact

To prevent future flooding disasters, the Florida state legislature created the Okeechobee Flood Control District, which was authorized to cooperate with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. After an assessment visit by President Herbert Hoover in 1929, the Corps drafted a plan to construct floodway channels, major levees, and control gates along the shores of Lake Okeechobee. Building codes in the state were improved, and the Herbert Hoover Dike was constructed in 1930 to further protect the area.

Bibliography

Barnes, Jay. Florida’s Hurricane History. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007. Chronological descriptions of Florida hurricanes and detailed accounts of the Okeechobee Hurricane using eyewitness reports and numerous photographs.

Elsner, James B., and A. Birol Kara. Hurricanes of the North Atlantic: Climate and Society. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Compares North Atlantic hurricanes, especially those that have hit the United States, and describes how they have affected people and property.

Lodge, Thomas E. The Everglades Handbook: Understanding the Ecosystem. 3d ed. Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, 2010. An overview of the Florida Everglades with a description of the topography and the water features of Lake Okeechobee; includes numerous color photographs.

Sheets, Bob, and Jack Williams. Hurricane Watch: Forecasting the Deadliest Storms on Earth. New York: Vintage Books, 2001. A general hurricane reference book, describing the history of the important storms, how they were caused, and the methods used to forecast them.

Simpson, Robert H., and Herbert Riehl. The Hurricane and Its Impact. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1981. An overview of hurricanes and the destruction they can cause. Includes a section that provides suggestions for protecting oneself from injury and property damage during these storms.

Will, Lawrence E. Okeechobee Hurricane and the Hoover Dike. 3d ed. St. Petersburg, Fla.: Great Outdoors Publishing Company, 1971. An account written by an Okeechobee Hurricane survivor describing the progress of the hurricane across the lake with eyewitness reports and previously unpublished photographs.