When the projected path of any hurricane is announced, many Okeechobee and Glades county residents were left feeling a uneasy in view of the past history of storms during the 20s, the 30s and the 40s. Striking before daylight, a devastating storm slammed into Miami on Saturday, September 18, 1926.

According to the book :"Okeechobee Hurricane" by Lawrence Will, it not only destroyed much of the rapidly growing city, but dealt a fatal blow to the real estate boom. Once past Miami, the storm turned a turn for the north, roaring up through the Everglades. Moore Haven on the west side of the lake had been subjected to an exceptionally heavy rainfall that year. The elevation of the lake stood at 18.1 feet on Friday, September 17 and the following day, it was a full foot higher, according to the Will book. The Caloosahatchee River was full and ditches and sloughs were overflowing and discharging into the overloaded river.

An earthen levee had been constructed earlier around the lake to protect farmlands from flooding. When the alarm was sounded on Friday night, the men responded and worked until daylight reinforcing the levee with sandbags. With the full fury of the storm’s winds, lake waters began to pile up against the weakened levee. The first break occurred about three quarters of a mile east of town. Then, others followed. Soon the water came in great waves, rising over the streets and all the way past the first floor of homes, which were never built to withstand such an onslaught.

Will said that although the fatalities from this storm were often quoted at 250 for Lake Okeechobee, it was probably only about 150, and the most of them were near Moore haven. The wind velocity is not known, but it has been estimated to be considerably over 100 miles per hour, Mr. Will said. Approximately 223 were killed in the Miami area, it has been reported that 6,378 were injured and 17,884 families, including those in Moore Haven, were affected either with their homes being destroyed or badly damaged.

That storm, however, as only a preview of
what was going to come just two years later.

It had been an exceptionally wet summer, particularly during August and for most of September. The Kissimmee River had risen from 17.8 feet in June to 30 feet in August. Lake Okeechobee was over 16 feet elevation. This storm first struck Puerto Rico and 275 people were reported killed. According to radio reports, the weather bureau said there was little change of it affecting Florida. A dike had been built across the southern part of the lake and part way up the east side to prevent farm lands from being flooded by high lake levels. On Sunday afternoon, September 16, the hurricane came ashore in West Palm Beach and headed directly for Lake Okeechobee. The hurricane, whirling counterclockwise at incredible speed, had dumped large volumes of horizontal rain. The velocity of the wind has been estimated at 150 to 160 miles per hour. The barometer reading in West Palm Beach was 27.43, the lowest ever recorded until that time.

To understand what happened, Mr. Will’s book provides a description.

". . . let us imagine Lake Okeechobee to be a large, shallow pan partly filled with water. The prolonged north wind pushed the water in the pan to the south end of the lake. The onslaught of the hurricane would tip the pan will further until the water reached the rim, or levee. Subsequent tipping would precipitate a surge of water considerably higher than the tip of the rim. When the center of the storm passed, the winds suddenly shifted from northerly to southerly direction. The imaginary pan was tilted in the opposite direction and the lake bottom, which had been nearly dry for miles, was quickly inundated." When the storm abated, there were deaths and property destruction all along the southern, eastern and northern edge of Lake Okeechobee. It still ranks among the great American Disasters.

It has been generally accepted that between 1,850 and 2,000 were killed, although the true figure will never be known, as many of the bodies were swept away during the storm. The Red Cross estimated over 12,000 as injured and 32,414 buildings were destroyed or damaged. According to the Mr. Will book, there were 25 lives lost in Okeechobee County, which included the lake shoreline from Upthegrove Beach to the Kissimmee River. Most of those who were drowned, according to Will, lived on Eagle Bay.

Some of the people tried to take refuge in the toll booth at the terminus of the Conners Highway, located about where the Lakeshore curve is today. Mr. Will’s book said several of the bodies were found entangled in a wire fence nearby. Jesse Lee, and his entire family, including his father, William, were reportedly wiped out, according to Mr. Will. Members of the Lightsey, Frazier and Cook Families also suffered losses.