The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-09-30
= A Florida TyphoOn.

IA E1uLluh - puoVHs
Florida summers are passably cool.
The thermometer rests between S00 and
9O0, with occasional spurts to 1902. At
night the heat is frequently intense.
Without close sand-hy bar there is no
rest, and with one no air. Grateful dews
cool the air before daylight, but coppery
sun soon reappears, and up to a. m. the
atmosphere is like that of o. furnace.
Then a refreshing trade wind sets in from
the southeast, aud blows steadily until
sundown. This trade wind lasts three
months, say from the middle of June to
about the same time in September.
Without it, life on the eastern coast
would be insupportable. There are days
in which the air becomes mucky aud
sticky. A dead land breeze covers the
earth. Sands and marshes throw out a
tremulous heat, binding to the eye; the
leaves of the oleanders and fig trees
shrink under the burning rays of the
sun; the sky seems rooted by brazen
dome, and gardens and groves fairly pant
for breath.
On the approach of autumn the FIori-
dians quake with apprehension. 1t is
the dread season of hurricanes. Tearing
through the West Indies, they often strike
the coast with deadly effect. With
scarcely a note of warning, houses are
overthrown, sailboats blown from the
water, and orange groves swept bare of
leaves and fruit. Some of the old set.
tiers say that they can detect signs of
the storm day before it breaks upon
them.
"You feel it in the air long before it
comes" says one. This is, however, an
indefinite sign. The devastation lining
its track cerlainly proves that "you feel it
in the air after it comes" One Of these
typhoons visits the coast every year.
The day may be bright and beautiful,
and the flowers heavy with bees and
humming birds. Shimmering mosquito
hawks culver in the air, and the scarlet
cardinal twitters in the acacias. A cool
ing breeze plays through the leaves of
the trees and gently swings the unripe
oranges. Clouds of gulls soar above the
dark green mangroye bushes, and the
sand bars, at low tide, are covered with
pensive curlews and willets. The drowsey
roar of the surf is heard, and the gentle
swell of the ocean is rippled with golden
sheen.
Almost impcrceptibly the wind dies
away. Cries of terms and water birds fall
upon the ear with painful distinctness.
The mud hens of the marshes pipe an
alarm. Not a blade of grass moves.
The blue sky grows hazy, and the eastern
horizon is milky white. Fitful gusts
begin to ripple the water and handle
the green leaves. A low moan comes
from the ocean. Smoky clouds roll into
the sky from the southeast, and strong
wind whitens the rufaed water. Every
minute it increses in fury. An ominous
yellow light tinges the atmosphere. The
sun is gone, and great drops Of rain are
hurled to the ground. Within fifteen
minutes there is gale, and soon the full
force of the hurricane is felt. Great eagles
and pelicans are swept through the
heavens utterly powerless. Sparrows
and other small birds are lashed to death
by leahess twigs, and the torn bodies Of
snowy herons and wild turkeys lodge in
the branches of the live oak and cypress
trees.
All living things disappear. Tall pines
are twisted asunder. The limbs of will
lows and oleanders snap like cow whips.
Lofty palmettoes bend their heads to
the ground, their great fans turned inside
out like the ribs of an umbrella. The
force of the wind keeps the trees down
until every green fan pops Ikea pistolshot
Orange groves are ripped into shoe strings.
The leaves of the scraggy scrub on the
beach are whipped into little brushes.
The tough saw palmetto is blown as
flat as northern wheat field, and the
dead grass of the savannas lashed into
fine dust. Boards in the surf are struck
by the winds, and sent spinning hundreds
of feet into the air. The sand dunes are
caught up bodily and siited through the
tops of pine trees miles away. The foam
of the sea is blown beneath the houses on
the main land, and comes up between
the cracks of the floor like steam.
Woe to the owners Of sail boats and
aboat houses. At Lake Worth the Cruz
ser, a heavy round-bottomed sail boat,
thirty.two feet long, owned by Capt.
Charles Moore, was picked up from her
ways, rigging and all, and carried across
the lake, mile away, without touching
the water. A boat owned by DR.. Wallace
of Castle Windy was torn from her moor
ings, lifted from the water, and dropped
into saltwater mash fringing Mosquito
Lagoon, 800 yards from the castle. In
the fall Of 1876 the Ida Smith, large
schooner running between New Smyrna
and Jacksonville, was torn from her an
chors and stranded on a marsh 500 yards
from the ship channel. The coast sur.
vey steamer, in a good harbor, sheltered
by sand banks, threw out three anchors,
and kept her wheels working against
the wind under a full head of steam.
She draggedher anchor several hundred
yards, and barely escaped destruction.
The hurricanes last from seven to
eight hours, even longer. During the
lull rain falls in.torrents. The tide rises
to great height, carrying away wharves
and lighthouses, aud flooding the country
for miles. The ocean leaps the sanoy
barriers of the coast and floods the In
dian and other salt water rivers, inrol-
wing great damage. After the storm,
centre. boards and jib-stays are found in
spruce pines, oleandcrs are loaded with
cordage, and dead eyes I'd peak blocks
drop from leahess orange trees. Gardens
are destroyed. fences swept away, and the
tormented Floridian has three months
work and no pay to repair damages.
Vessels are driven ashore had some
time many lives lost. The Landona, a
New York steamship, went ashore twelve
miles north of Canaveral in the great gale
of Aug. %, 1871. All on board perished.
Since then many vessels have been
wrecked. ZIsKA.
Jerusalem.