Hurricanes in the Turks and Caicos Islands - 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane (Paperback)

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Okeechobee hurricane, or San Felipe Segundo hurricane, was a deadly hurricane that struck the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Florida in September of the 1928 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the second recorded hurricane to reach Category 5 status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale in the Atlantic basin after the 1924 Cuba hurricane; as of 2008, it remained the only recorded hurricane to strike Puerto Rico at Category 5 strength, and one of the ten most intense ever recorded to make landfall in the United States. The hurricane caused devastation throughout its path. As many as 1,200 people were killed in Guadeloupe. The storm directly struck Puerto Rico at peak strength, killing at least 300 and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. In south Florida at least 2,500 were killed when a storm surge from Lake Okeechobee breached the dike surrounding the lake, flooding an area covering hundreds of square miles. In total, the hurricane killed at least 4,078 people and caused around US$100 million ($1.27 billion 2010 USD) in damages over the course of its path. Storm pathThe storm was first observed 900 miles (1450 km) to the east of Guadeloupe on September 10 by the S.S. Commack. At the time, this was the most easterly report of a tropical cyclone ever received through ship's radio. A Cape Verde-type hurricane, hurricane analysis in the 1990s determined the storm likely formed four days prior between Cape Verde and the coast of Africa. As the storm neared the Caribbean, it was already a Category 3 hurricane. On September 12 it passed over Guadeloupe and then south of the other Leeward Islands; Guadeloupe reported a pressure of 27.76 inHg (940 mbar), and a ship just south of St. Croix in the United States Virgin Islands rep... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=1797946