100 Years Of Florida Hurricanes

Three major hurricanes have struck southern Florida in this century. Here are descriptions, based on information from the Weather Channel and National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, of the hurricanes which struck in 1919, 1935 and 1960.

• The 1919 Hurricane. The fourth-most intense and deadly storm of this century passed near Key West on Sept. 9-10 and went on to cause an estimated 800 deaths in Florida and Texas. The Category 4 hurricane hovered over the Dry Tortugas Islands, 65 miles west of Key West, where 10 vessels were lost at sea, accounting for more than 500 deaths. The hurricane continued slowly westward, and on Sept. 14, its center moved inland south of Corpus Christi, Texas. There, tides rose 16 feet above normal, and another 287 lives were lost.

• Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. This hurricane was the most intense to hit the United States in this century and was the first of only two Category 5 hurricanes to hit the United States since record-keeping began. Hurricane Camille in 1969 was the other. The 1935 hurricane killed more than 400 people; more than half were World War I veterans living in rehabilitation camps. The 1935 storm reached hurricane status north of Cuba on Sept. 1. It then intensified very rapidly and turned northward toward the Florida Keys. The storm struck with great ferocity, and the eye of the hurricane passed over the middle Keys on Sept. 3. Wind gusts were estimated between 150 and 200 mph.

• Hurricane Donna, 1960. Donna struck the Florida Keys with winds gusting to 180 mph on the night of Sept. 9. The Category 4 hurricane claimed 50 lives, injured 1,800 others and caused more than $380 million in damage ($1.8 billion in 1990 dollars). The hurricane hit the Marathon-Tavernier area the hardest before heading north along the Gulf Coast. At Sarasota, the hurricane turned eastward and thrashed across Florida, destroying citrus and avocado crops, until it entered the Atlantic in the St. Augustine-Jacksonville area. It then moved north along the Atlantic and died out over Maine on Sept. 14.