The 1928 Lake Okeechobee Hurricane: The Story of the Second Deadliest Hurricane in American History

"Pointe a Pitre was a perfect picture of a city that had been dynamited during the preceding night." - William H. Hunt, American Consul on the Guadeloupe, in a letter to Secretary of State Frank Kellogg In 2005, the world watched in horror as Hurricane Katrina decimated New Orleans, and the calamity seemed all the worse because many felt that technology had advanced far enough to prevent such tragedies. But that viewpoint that tends to overlook all of the dangers posed by hurricanes, and other phenomena that produce natural disasters. After all, storms and hurricanes have been wiping out coastal communities ever since the first humans built them. As bad as Hurricane Katrina was, the hurricane that struck southern Florida in September 1928 killed hundreds more, with an estimated death toll of over 2,500 people. Prior to advanced communications, few people knew about impending hurricanes except those closest to the site. And in the days before television, or the widespread use of radios,