On the evening of September 16, 1928, after terrorizing the Caribbean islands, a powerful hurricane that measured as a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, made landfall in Palm Beach County, Florida. The storm did damage in and around West Palm Beach, which at the time was sparsely inhabited, but most of the damage occured inland on the south side of Lake Okeechobee. The low pressure and south-blowing wind caused a small dike on the south side of the lake to be overcome by a storm surge. The flood that resulted covered hundreds of square miles in water, which in some places was over 20 feet deep. As the rear eyewall passed over the area, the flood reversed itself, and broke dikes along the north coast of the lake, causing similar damage, but on a smaller scale. Flood waters persisted for several weeks, impeding any rescue and cleanup attempts. Burial services became overwhelmed, and as a result, about three-quarters of the bodies were placed in mass graves, many of the bodies unidentified. The Okeechobee Hurricane of 1928 resulted in the deaths of at least a combined 2,500 people in Guadaloupe, Puerto Rico and the Florida Everglades.
On the evening of September 16, 1928, after terrorizing the Caribbean islands, a powerful hurricane that measured as a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, made landfall in Palm Beach County, Florida. The storm did damage in and around West Palm Beach, which at the time was sparsely inhabited, but most of the damage occured inland on the south side of Lake Okeechobee. The low pressure and south-blowing wind caused a small dike on the south side of the lake to be overcome by a storm surge. The flood that resulted covered hundreds of square miles in water, which in some places was over 20 feet deep. As the rear eyewall passed over the area, the flood reversed itself, and broke dikes along the north coast of the lake, causing similar damage, but on a smaller scale. Flood waters persisted for several weeks, impeding any rescue and cleanup attempts. Burial services became overwhelmed, and as a result, about three-quarters of the bodies were placed in mass graves, many of the bodies unidentified. The Okeechobee Hurricane of 1928 resulted in the deaths of at least a combined 2,500 people in Guadaloupe, Puerto Rico and the Florida Everglades.
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