The 18 Deadliest Natural Disasters in American history

The 18 Deadliest Natural Disasters in American history

Larry Holzwarth - November 16, 2018

The 18 Deadliest Natural Disasters in American history
Key West Harbor displays some of the destruction in the aftermath of the 1919 hurricane which devastated the Florida Keys. Wikimedia

9. The hurricane in the Florida Keys of 1919

The 1919 Florida Keys hurricane, which is often referred to as the Key West Hurricane, amplified its damage because it moved across the region at a relatively slow speed while retaining its strength as a full-fledged Atlantic hurricane. The storm was born near the Leeward Islands and moved to the north and northwest during the first week of September. It reached hurricane strength on September 7 near the Bahamas. On September 9 it began to pummel the Florida Keys, by then a Category 4 hurricane in strength. Five days later the storm made landfall on the continent on the Texas coast near Baffin Bay as a Category 3 hurricane. During its crossing of the Gulf of Mexico the storm caused the loss of at least ten ships and the deaths of approximately 500 members of their crews. The number of people killed in the Caribbean and the Florida Keys was estimated as being between 600 and 900.

Texas was not spared either, with the storm surge, high winds, and heavy rains causing significant damage and further loss of life. In Corpus Christi nearly two dozen city blocks of homes were destroyed. Nearly 300 were killed in the city. Throughout Texas there were as many as six hundred dead. Official death counts contained lower figures because only recovered bodies were counted, those swept away or lost at sea were not included. At least one tornado was spawned by the hurricane, which damaged the town of Goulds in Florida. Corpus Christi erected its seawall in the aftermath of the storm as a response to the storm surge, which was reported to have been over sixteen feet in height. By September 16 the two week old storm broke apart near the Mexican border in West Texas, officially credited with over 770 fatalities, but unofficially with many more.

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