GR-1114 Physical Geography Fall 2014 Mississippi State
University Professor Greg Nordstrom CHRISTOPHER CAWLEY 28 November
2014
Slide 2
On August 29, 1935, a disturbance organized east of the
Bahamas. Little could anyone have known at the time that this weak
tropical storm would become the strongest hurricane to ever hit the
United States, pack winds between 180 and 200 mph, and claim over
400 souls. The storm progressed westward, strengthening into a
hurricane by September 1, 1935. By harnessing the fuel provided by
the Gulf Stream, this storm became a small, compact monster that
finally made landfall as a Category 5 Storm the evening of Labor
Day, September 2, 1935. After destroying the Keys, the storm curved
to the north, and ran virtually parallel to the west coast of
Florida. The second landfall occurred near Cedar Key, Florida, as a
Category 2 storm on September 4. The storm then progressed off to
the north-northeast across Georgia and the Carolinas, and into the
Atlantic where it briefly regained hurricane strength before
becoming extratropical, and then a nontropical remnant low, near
Greenland by September 10, 1935 (HurricaneScience.org)
WIND SPEEDS: The 1935 Labor Day Hurricane was the first ever
Category Five storm to hit the United States. While no reliable
wind measurements were taken, McDonald states that [i]t seems safe
to estimate that winds of 150 to 200 miles per hour occurred near
and over the Keys, with gusts probably exceeding 200 mph. The
concept of Category Five, however, is a bit of a stretch because
the Saffir-Simpson Scale wasnt developed until the year 1971. (An
interesting side note, the Saffir-Simpson scale originally included
parameters such as central pressure and storm surge, but that was
eliminated in 2009, with the scale being renamed the Saffir-Simpson
Hurricane Wind Scale.)
Slide 7
CENTRAL PRESSURE: The intensity of a given storm is determined
in part by the central barometric pressure. According to McDonald,
in Monthly Weather Review (published in 1935), the central minimum
pressure was probably somewhat below 27 inches as indicated of
three aneroids on the Keys, the values ranging from 26.75 to 26.98.
Effort is being made to secure one or more instruments for testing,
because any authenticated pressure value below 27 inches will
constitute a new record low for the Western Hemisphere. Other
sources* indicate a minimum central pressure of 892 mbar (which
converts to 26.341 inHg), and this measurement is corroborated by
the National Hurricane Center. This makes the 1935 Labor Day
Hurricane #3 on the list of most intense hurricanes to strike the
U.S. * includes Wikipedia and NOAA
Slide 8
STORM SURGE: Several sources indicate a storm surge of 18 to 20
feet struck the islands. To put this into some perspective, 20 feet
is the approximate height of a two-story house. Further slides in
this presentation will detail some accounts of the wall of water
that overtook the islands.
Slide 9
DEATH TOLL: Various accounts show that between 400 and 500
people perished during this storm. Marie Maxwell, in The Labor Day
Hurricane of 1935 (National Archives), relates the story of the
World War I veterans camps that were on the Keys. She states, there
were over 600 veterans stationed there for a work program, [] and
262 of those veterans died, and many more were injured. The
American Red Cross lists a death toll of 408, with the majority
being the veterans working on a construction detail for the Works
Progress Administration (NWS).
Slide 10
The federal government paid $100 per body to have 109 World War
I veterans who were killed at works camps in the Keys during the
1935 Labor Day Hurricane to be buried at Woodlawn Cemetery on SW 8
th Street in Miami. (per the Miami Herald, 8/30/2014)
Slide 11
COMPLETE DESTRUCTION: Unknown author, on the Overseas Railroad
/ Railfan webpage describes a glimpse of some of the numbing sense
of loss. By Tuesday, the storm had gone, and on that morning
stragglers were making their way back up the string of islands to
civilization. They told people first in Key Largo and then in
Homestead that the hurricane had cut the string of islands in half.
It seemed unbelievable, but the entire islands had disappeared.
They also said that hundreds were missing. (continued)
Slide 12
COMPLETE DESTRUCTION (continued from previous slide) Dazed
survivors continued to crawl out of their hiding places and look
about them, wondering that they were still alive. Everywhere the
islands were stripped bare, and death and destruction were all
around. Houses, trees, and here and there, even parts of the
islands themselves had vanished. [] On the following day the search
for the dead commenced in earnest. Some had tied themselves to
trunks of trees. Others were floating out in the bay or washed up
on tiny islands. [] Most of the victims were never found. This
extensive quotation is provided in its entirety because it paints a
picture, gives a glimpse of the remarkable level of destruction
that occurred.
Slide 13
Florida East Coast Railway evacuation train derailed by the
1935 Labor Day Hurricane. (credit National Weather Service Southern
Region Headquarters)
Slide 14
COMPLETE DESTRUCTION In his Monthly Review Article, McDonald
describes some of the devastation observed: Over a distance of
about 30 miles, from the settlement of Tavenier [] to Vaca Keys,
the destruction of buildings, roads, viaducts, and bridges was
practically complete. Much of this damage was caused by the
overwhelming depth and strong washing flow of the storm tide that
piled up on the Keys under the driving power of the storm. [] The
disposition of debris and nature of the erosion of the railroad
embankments clearly indicate that the destructive tide flowed with
an intense effect over the Keys from southwest to northeast, in the
direction of advance of the storm center.
Slide 15
(credit KeysHistory.org)
Slide 16
Slide 17
(credit Keywesttheblog.blogspot.com)
Slide 18
In researching survivor accounts of this horrific storm, one
reaches a point where paraphrasing survivors stories simply does
not do justice to what they endured, not only in the storm but in
the storm aftermath. The accounting by the unknown author on the
Overseas Railroad site is just a few short paragraphs but very
haunting, telling of dazed survivors wondering that they were still
alive. The author told of families who knew of members of their own
who were missing, but simply never reported, as they knew they
wouldnt be found.
Slide 19
An article from 2010 in The Tampa Tribune, published by the
Associated Press, details the stories of seven people who survived
the hellish storm. The article is ambiguous as to when or where
this took place, but that is irrelevant. The stories of these
individuals commands the full attention. From the article, [t]he
seven survivors, ages 78 to 90, told of ferocious winds ripping the
skin off their ears and the clothes off the bodies. They remembered
clinging to mattresses with their siblings and their parents as the
ocean that had been their playground turned into a scary
monster.
Slide 20
(credit Tampa Tribune)
Slide 21
Slide 22
The Florida Keys Keynoter and Reporter Newspapers has an
accounting from the same conference. Heart-wrenching description is
given to the veterans who drowned. A group of veterans took shelter
in quarry that was dug about 8 feet below the ground level. This
turned out to be a fatal move, as they succumbed to the 18- to
20-foot storm surge. The survivors stated that several days later
other veterans were found as they died hanging onto something. The
survivors noted that they didnt recognize the island in the
aftermath; they believed they were out on a bank, lost.
Slide 23
Bernard Russell, in an interview published in a May 2005
edition of USA Today, stated there were 61 in the Russell family
and 50 of them died that night. He stated that [t]here were so many
dead people and no place to take them. They stacked them up and
burned them.
Slide 24
THE BLAME GAME Even in the mid 1930s, the blame game was
played, and played well. Accounts show that if the Weather Bureau
(known today as the National Weather Service) had avoided
forecasting errors, lives could have been saved. The initial
forecast was for the storm to move west into the Gulf of Mexico.
Subsequent forecast revisions indicated the storm would impact
Cuba. Once the Weather Bureau realized what the true path of the
storm would be, it was too late to initiate any evacuations or
planning. HurricaneScience.org states that, the inaccuracies in the
forecast was likely due to the storms small size, with the lightest
associated winds just 155 miles from the center.
Slide 25
In Marie Maxwells report from 2011, The Labor Day Hurricane of
1935, she described that the 74 th Congress held hearings in the
early part of 1936, A Bill for the Relief of Widows, Children and
Dependent Parents of World War Veterans Who Died as the Result of
the Florida Hurricane at Windley Island and Matecumbe Bays,
September 2, 1935. The point of this was to establish
responsibility for the veterans deaths, provide relief for
dependents, and to establish a way of proving death so as to
expedite benefits that dependents should receive.
Slide 26
ERNEST HEMINGWAY BLASTS THE GOVERNMENT Melissah Pawlikowski, in
a report to the History News Network, provided an accounting of an
inquiry by Ernest Hemingway regarding the treatment of the
veterans. Hemingway wrote an account entitled, Who Murdered the
Vets? A First-Hand Report on the Florida Hurricane. This is
described as an outraged demand for accountability for the needless
death of the veterans.
Slide 27
ERNEST HEMINGWAY BLASTS THE GOVERNMENT (part 2) (credit
Historynewsnetwork.org)
Slide 28
At mile marker #82 on the east side of U.S. Highway 1, a
memorial is constructed to honor the lives of those who perished
during the storm. This memorial was established in 1937. In the
memorial is a crypt that holds the cremated remains of over 300
people. The monument stands at the location of the former
Islamorada post office, and was unveiled with over 4000 people in
attendance. The monument was added to the US National Register of
Historic Places in 1995.
Slide 29
(credit Keywesttheblog.blogspot.com)
Slide 30
(credit florida-keys-vacation.com)
Slide 31
(credit Julie-Ann Amos julieannamos.hubpages.com)
Slide 32
Amos, Julie-Ann. The 1935 Labor Day Hurricane. n.d. Web. 29
November 2014.. Associated Press Staff. Survivors of 1935 Key West
Hurricane Recall Terrible Night. 15 May 2010. 29 November 2014..
Baucom, Donald. The Great Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. 29 August
2013. 29 November 2014.. Clark, Cammy. Photo Exhibit Shows
Devastation of Florida Keys' Great Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. 30
August 2014. Web. 28 November 2014..
Slide 33
Clingerman, Jason. Plumage of Pomp: The Labor Day Hurricane of
1935. 5 November 2012. Web. 28 November 2014.. Maxwell, Marie. The
Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. 2 September 2011. Web. 28 November
2014.. McDonald, W. F. Labor Day 1935 Hurricane Monthly Weather
Review Article (exerpts). 1935. Web. 28 November 2014..
Pawlikowski, Melissah. When Hemingway Took the Government to Task
for a Hurricane Disaster that Cost Hundreds of Lives. 26 September
2005. Web. 29 November 2014..
Slide 34
Timothy Schott, et al. The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
1 February 2012. PDF. 28 November 2014.. Unknown Author. 1935 -
Labor Day Hurricane. n.d. Web. 28 November 2014.. Unknown Author.
1935 Labor Day Hurricane. n.d. 29 November 2014.. Unknown Author.
National Weather Service, National Hurricane Center. n.d. Web. 28
November 2014..
Slide 35
Unknown Author. 1935 Storm Swept Away All But Memories. 17 May
2005. Web. 29 November 2014.. Unknown Author. The Florida Keys 1935
Hurricane Brutalized The Area on Labor Day. n.d. Web. 29 November
2014.. Unknown Author. NWS Marks 75th Anniversary of the 1935 Labor
Day Hurricane. 2 September 2010. Web. 29 November 2014.. Unknown
Author. Remembering the Labor Day Hurricane. n.d. Web. 28 November
2014..
Slide 36
Wadlow, Kevin. Survivor Remembers: 'When the water came, they
drowned like rats'. 27 May 2010. Web. 29 November 2014.. Wilkinson,
Jerry. History of Long Key. n.d. Web. 29 November 2014.. Williams,
Jack. Hurricane Scale Invented to Communicate Storm Danger. 17 May
2005. Web. 28 November 2014..