The Florida Keys Hurricane Of 1935
The 1935 Florida Keys Hurricane was the strongest hurricane to hit the United States coastline this century.
The 1935 Storm became a tropical storm on August 29th just to the north of Hispaniola. It tracked westward during the next four days and reached hurricane status north of Cuba on September 1st. It then intensified very rapidly and turned more northward toward the Florida Keys.
The storm struck with great ferocity, especially in the middle Keys. The eye of the hurricane passed over the middle Keys on September 3. Wind gusts were estimated at an incredible 150 to 200 miles per hour on some of the Keys. Many railroad workers, mostly World War I veterans, lost their lives trying to evacuate as their railroad cars were swept off their tracks by the storm surge. The death toll exceeded 400.
The Florida Keys hurricane was a Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, one of two hurricanes this century to reach the United States at that intensity. The other was Hurricane Camille in 1969.
After passing the Keys, the hurricane weakened and made landfall north of Cedar Key, Florida late on September 4th. The storm weakened to tropical storm strength as it reached Georgia. It became a hurricane again after if passed back out over the North Atlantic Ocean near Norfolk, Virginia.