1935 Labor Day hurricane

Labor Day Hurricane of 1935

Category 5 hurricane (SSHS)
Relief train wreckage in Islamorada
Formed	August 29, 1935
Dissipated	September 10, 1935
Highest winds	185 mph (295 km/h) (1-minute sustained)
Lowest pressure	892 mbar (hPa; 26.34 inHg)
Fatalities	408–600 direct
Damage	$6 million (1935 USD) $96 million (2009 USD)
Areas affected	Bahamas, Florida Keys, Big Bend, Florida Panhandle, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia
Part of the 1935 Atlantic hurricane season

The 1935 Labor Day hurricane was the strongest tropical cyclone during the 1935 Atlantic hurricane season and one of the most intense landfalling U.S. hurricanes in recorded American History. The second tropical cyclone, second hurricane, and second intense hurricane of the season marked the most destructive Atlantic hurricane of the United States; and it was the first of three Category 5 hurricanes the United States endured during the 20th century. After forming as a weak tropical storm east of the Bahamas on August 29, it slowly proceeded westward and became a hurricane on September 1. Prior to striking the upper Florida Keys on September 2, it underwent rapid intensification. After landfall, it continued northwest along the Florida west coast, weakening prior to landfall near Cedar Key on September 4.

The compact and intense hurricane caused extreme damage in the upper Florida Keys, as a storm surge of approximately 18 to 20 feet affected the region. The hurricane's strong winds destroyed most of the buildings in the Islamorada area, and many World War I veteran workers were killed by the storm surge. Portions of the Key West Extension of the Florida East Coast Railroad were severely damaged or destroyed. The hurricane also caused additional damage in northwest Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. In total, more than 400 people were killed.

Meteorological history

Storm path

The storm was born as a small tropical disturbance due east of Florida, near the Bahamas, in late August. The disturbance drifted west toward the Gulf Stream, and U.S. weather forecasters became aware of a potential tropical storm. Early on September 1, the tropical storm strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane as it neared the southern tip of Andros Island in the Bahamas.

As the hurricane entered the Gulf Stream late on September 1, intensification became considerably more rapid. It intensified without pause for a day and a half, while its track made a gentle turn to the northwest, toward Islamorada in the upper Keys. The hurricane reached peak intensity on September 2, making landfall between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. EST at Craig Key.

After striking the Keys, the hurricane weakened as it paralleled the west coast of Florida. It made a second landfall in northwest Florida near Cedar Key as a Category 2 hurricane on September 4. It quickly weakened to a tropical storm as it moved inland, passing over Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina prior to emerging into the Atlantic Ocean near Norfolk. On September 6, the storm quickly re-intensified to hurricane status as it reached winds of 90 mph (145 km/h). It quickly weakened and the system rapidly became extratropical. The remnants continued northeast until it became non-tropical south of Greenland on September 10.

Records

The Labor Day Hurricane was the only storm known to make landfall in the United States with a minimum central pressure below 900 mbar; only two others have struck the country with winds of Category 5 strength. It remains the third-strongest Atlantic hurricane on record, surpassed only by Hurricanes Gilbert (1988) and Wilma (2005).

The maximum sustained wind speed at landfall is estimated to have been near 160 mph (260 km/h). However, recent reanalysis studies conducted by the NOAA Hurricane Research Division (HRD) suggest that the maximum sustained winds were more likely around 185 mph (295 km/h) at landfall.^[1] A landfall intensity of 185 mph with a 892 mbar pressure would be plausible as 2005's Hurricane Wilma had a similar pressure and winds. The recorded central pressure was reported as 26.35 inHg (892 mbar hPa). This was the record low pressure for a hurricane anywhere in the Western Hemisphere until surpassed by Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 and Hurricane Wilma in 2005.

Impact

The main transportation route linking the Keys to mainland Florida was one railroad line, the Florida Overseas Railroad portion of the Florida East Coast Railway. A 10-car evacuation train, sent down from Homestead, was washed off the track by the storm surge and high winds on Upper Matecumbe Key. Only the locomotive remained upright on the rails, and had to be barged back to Miami several months later. The National Weather Service estimated 408 deaths from the hurricane. Bodies were recovered as far away as Flamingo and Cape Sable on the southwest tip of the Florida mainland.

The hurricane left a path of near destruction in the Upper Keys, centered on what is today the village of Islamorada. Nearly every structure was demolished, as well as some bridges and railway embankments were washed away. The links—rail, road, and ferry boats—that chained the islands together were broken. The Islamorada area was devastated, though the hurricane's destructive path was narrower than most tropical cyclones. Its eye was eight miles across, and the fiercest winds extended 15 miles off the center, less than 1992's Hurricane Andrew, which was also a relatively small and catastrophic Category 5 hurricane.

Craig Key, Long Key, and Upper Matecumbe and Lower Matecumbe Keys suffered the worst. After the third day of the storm, corpses swelled and split open in the subtropical heat, according to rescue workers. Public health officials ordered plain wood coffins holding the dead to be stacked and burned in several locations.

The United States Coast Guard and other state and federal agencies organized evacuation and relief efforts. Boats and airplanes carried injured survivors to Miami. The railroad would never be rebuilt, but temporary bridges and ferry landings were under construction as soon as materials arrived, and within a few years a roadway (Overseas Highway), linked the entire Keys to the mainland. The storm caused wind and flood damage along the Florida panhandle, and into Georgia.

Memorial

The 1935 Hurricane memorial on Upper Matecumbe Key, Florida

Standing just east of U.S. 1 at mile marker 82 in Islamorada, near where Islamorada's post office had been, is a simple monument designed by the Florida Division of the Federal Art Project and constructed using Keys limestone ("keystone") by the Works Progress Administration. It was unveiled in 1937 with more than 4,000 people attending. A frieze depicts palm trees amid curling waves, fronds bent in the wind. In front of the sculpture, a ceramic-tile mural of the Keys covers a stone crypt, which holds victims' ashes from the makeshift funeral pyres. The memorial was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on March 16, 1995.

The text on a plaque entitled "The Florida Keys Memorial" in front of the monument reads:

The Florida Keys Memorial, known locally as the "Hurricane Monument," was built to honor hundreds of American veterans and local citizens who perished in the "Great Hurricane" on Labor Day, September 2, 1935. Islamorada sustained winds of 200 miles per hour and a barometer reading of 26.36 inches for many hours on that fateful holiday; most local buildings and the Florida East Coast Railway were destroyed by what remains the most savage hurricane on record. Hundreds of World War I veterans who had been camped in the Matecumbe area while working on the construction of U.S. Highway One for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) were killed. In 1937 the cremated remains of approximately 300 people were placed within the tiled crypt in front of the monument. The monument is composed of native keystone, and its striking frieze depicts coconut palm trees bending before the force of hurricane winds while the waters from an angry sea lap at the bottom of their trunks. Monument construction was funded by the WPA and regional veterans' associations. Over the years the Hurricane Monument has been cared for by local veterans, hurricane survivors, and descendants of the victims.

See also

Tropical cyclones portal

Storm of the Century: The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 (Adventure Press) by Willie Drye (Author)

• List of Florida hurricanes

References

References and external links

• Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory
  • Excerpts from the Labor Day 1935 Hurricane Monthly Weather Review Article
• Images of historic Florida Hurricanes (State Archives of Florida)
• Florida Keys History Museum
  • Key West Memorial
  • Hurricanes history
• Major Daniel C. Main killed in Hurricane
• Monroe County listings at National Register of Historic Places
• Florida Keys Memorial at Florida's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs
• 1935 hurricane report