Does this apply to Miami?
The Great Miami Hurricane (sometimes called the "Big Blow") was a destructive and intense hurricane that battered Miami, Florida in 1926. Born off Cape Verde on September 6, the hurricane roamed the Atlantic Ocean and passed near St. Kitts on the 14th. By the 17th it was battering the Bahamas. Then in the early moring hours of the 18th it made landfall just south of Miami in between Coral Gables and South Miami as a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. The storm then made landfall near Mobile, Alabama as a Category 3 hurricane.
At first landfall, winds on the ground were reported around 125 mph and the pressure measured at 935 mb (though all such data is suspect). Most of the coastal inhabitants had not evacutated, partly because of short warning (a hurricane warning was issued just a few hours before landfall) and partly because the "young" city's population knew little about the danger a major hurricane posed. A 15 foot storm surge inundated the area, causing massive property damage and some fatalities. As the eye of the hurricane crossed over Miami Beach and downtown Miami, many people believed the storm had passed. Some tried to leave the barrier islands, only to be swept off of the bridges by the rear eyewall. I
nland, Lake Okeechobee experienced a high storm surge, flooding the town of Moore Haven and killing many. This was just a prelude of the 1928 Lake Okeechobee Hurricane which would cause a massive number of fatalities around the lake.
After crossing Florida, the hurricane moved into the Gulf of Mexico. It made landfall a second time near the border of Florida and Alabama. Coastal regions between Mobile and Pensacola, Florida suffered heavy damage from wind, rain, and storm surge, but this paled beside the news of the destruction in Miami.
According to the Red Cross there were 373 fatalities. Other estimates vary, since there were a large number of people listing as "missing". Between 25,000 and 50,000 people were left homeless, mostly in the Miami area.
The damage from the storm was immense; few buildings in Miami or Miami Beach were left intact. The toll for the storm was $100 million in 1926 dollars, just over $1 billion in 2005 dollars. It is estimated that if it had hit in the year 2003, with modern development and prices, the storm would have caused over $98 billion in damage. After the hurricane the Great Depression started in South Florida, slowing recovery.