ARLINGTON, Va. - s4story -- by Ed Lengel for David Bruce Smith's Grateful American Book Prize

The Cuban Hurricane of 1924

In October of 1924, the first recorded category five Atlantic hurricane—with sustained winds in excess of 160 miles per hour—blasted through Cuba, took dozens of lives in the Caribbean, and frightened—but spared—Florida from major damage because of a last-minute detour.

The unnamed disturbance formed in the Gulf of Mexico in mid-October, before gathering strength and thundering ashore in western Cuba on October 19. Villages in the primitive Pinar del Rio Province—on the island's far-western tip—were flattened as winds swept away ramshackle buildings and rain caused massive flooding. At least ninety people were killed; in an era before large-scale humanitarian aid projects existed, more people would die in the months to come as villagers fended for themselves.

It remains the strongest storm ever to hit Cuba.

Panicked warnings spread across southern Florida; the monsoon seemed to be on a collision course with the peninsula. Without satellite images or electronic media to guide them, many people still relied on intuition to determine what would follow; in Key West, the Miami News reported that "old sea dogs" clung to the superstition that no hurricane would hit the island after a full moon, which had just occurred. And they were proved right—if just barely. While towns from Miami to Punta Gorda lived through up to twenty inches of rainfall and flooding, Americans were relieved when the tempest detoured out to sea.

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Less merciful ones would follow.

For more information about the history of Atlantic hurricanes, the Grateful American Book Prize recommends Eric Jay Dolin's A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred Year History of America's Hurricanes (2020).

History Matters is a feature courtesy of the Grateful American Book Prize.

The Grateful American Book Prize is awarded each year to high quality, 7th to 9th grade level, historical fiction, and non-fiction, about events and personalities that have shaped the United States since its founding. For more book recommendations, information about the annual award, and the 2024 Grateful American Book Prize winners, visit https://gratefulamericanbookprize.org/.