America’s Deadliest Hurricanes: The History of the Three Worst Hurricanes in American History by Charles River Editors

Author:Charles River Editors
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Charles River Editors
Published: 2018-10-15T16:00:00+00:00

One of the mistakes that many people make about hurricanes is assuming that the worst damage comes from the wind and rain. While this is often true, it is also true that the very worst damage in especially severe storms like this one or Hurricane Katrina is that the worst damage and loss of life are typically caused by the flooding, especially when structures put in place to protect people fail. This was the case with the flooding that claimed more than 1,000 lives around Lake Okeechobee, because as the wind built, it caused a storm surge that overwhelmed the short dike that had been built up on the south side of the lake. The dike crumbled under the pressure and washed away, leaving nothing between the lake’s water and the population. Mutt Thomas, who was 13 years old when the hurricane struck, remembered, “[A]pparently the old mud dike, five to eight feet high and about 40 feet thick at the base, had been breached by the lake and was washed away. The house was a good four feet off the ground. By the time all the families had got in, the water was high enough that it was coming into the house. They put all the small kids on the table in the kitchen. As we went in the back door, the water continued to rise until it was halfway up the windows and rising more. … [T]here were 21 whites and 42 blacks. The colored people were in the front part of the house and they went through a hole in the ceiling. … My family all went through a hole in the kitchen. By the time all of us got up in the ceiling the water was up over the windows. The wind was deafening, and when there was a lull you could hear the black people singing, praying, and crying. The weather picked up, and the house was moving. … [T]he house floated off the piling and water came up in the attic.”

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