On September 18, 1926 one of the most destructive hurricanes in US history landed on Florida. This was known as the Great Miami Hurricane. 85 years ago there was very little warning like we have today. This left people in a very bad position. The storm ended up killing anywhere between 265 to 373 people as winds of 125mph slammed into the city of Miami.
There is a YouTube video of the post storm damage. There is a Wikipedia page with a summary of the storm, and the track of the storm. There is a chart on the bottom right part of the Wikipedia page that calculates the storm's monetary damage. Adjusted to 2005 numbers the hurricane resulted in losses of $100 billion. Also in the Wikipedia story there are personal accounts on what happened to people during the storm.
This is known as the Great Miami Hurricane because back in 1926 hurricanes were not given names. The National Hurricane Center did not start naming hurricanes until 1953.
Back in 1992 Hurricane Andrew struck the South Florida coast with winds that exceeded 150mph according to the National Hurricane Center. But the worst of Hurricane Andrew struck south of the Downtown Miami area, whereas the 1926 Great Miami Hurricane struck the city head on.
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