page_title: 1916 Pensacola hurricane
section_title: Preparations and impact
hierarchical_section_title: 1916 Pensacola hurricane / Preparations and impact
caption_attribution_description: English: Surface weather analysis of Hurricane Fourteen of the 1916 Atlantic hurricane season making landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula on October 15, 1916.
context_page_description: The 1916 Pensacola hurricane was a tropical cyclone that swept across the western Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico in October 1916. It was the last hurricane of the 1916 Atlantic hurricane season, forming as a tropical depression near Jamaica on October 9 and moved slowly southwest and west, taking an unusual track for storms in October. Intensification was initially slow, but proceeded in earnest after October 11 as the depression strengthened into a tropical storm and then a hurricane. It passed over the Swan Islands before moving ashore the Yucatán Peninsula on October 15 near the border between the British Honduras and Mexico. Plantains and coconuts in the British Honduras sustained harsh losses. Twenty people were killed following the loss of a ship in the western Caribbean. The tropical cyclone weakened as it moved across the peninsula and curved north into the Gulf of Mexico on October 16.
  The hurricane restrengthened as it accelerated towards the U.S. Gulf Coast, reaching a peak with winds of 110 mph shortly before making landfall near Pensacola, Florida, on the morning of October 18.
context_section_description: Communications with the Swan Islands were disrupted as the hurricane passed nearby. Three wireless towers were destroyed and two thousand coconut trees were blown down. Buildings sustained slight damage. Several barges were grounded on the Swan Islands' shores. Twenty people were killed following a ship's sinking in the western Caribbean. Most plantains and hundreds of coconut trees in the British Honduras were destroyed by the hurricane. Heavy rainfall was documented on the Yucatán Peninsula.
  Beginning on October 14, the Weather Bureau began advising ships in the Gulf of Mexico of the storm's possible approach via the Yucatán Channel. Storm warnings were issued by the Weather Bureau for a stretch of the U.S. Gulf Coast between Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and Carrabelle, Florida, on the morning of October 17. Hurricane warnings were issued for areas between New Orleans, Louisiana, and Apalachicola, Florida, on October 18 as the cyclone drew nearer. Storm warnings were also issued on the Eastern Seaboard between Savannah, Georgia, and Cape Henry, Virginia, and additional warnings for damaging gale-force winds were issued for inland areas in Alabama, western Georgia, northwestern Florida, and Mississippi. These alerts were radioed to coastal interests and yielded enough time for substantial precautionary measures to be put in place. The warnings advised for ships to remain in port. Eight ships bound for Central Americana and European ports remained anchored at the mouth of the Mississippi River. A hundred fishing schooners operating in the wetlands of Louisiana fled for Biloxi, Mississippi, to avoid the storm. The United States Coast Guard dispatched the cutter Tallapoosa to render assistance to vessels in distress if necessary. Shipping firms authorized the resumption of shipping operations at noon on October 18. The perceived threat of the hurricane to Alabama's cotton-growing regions caused the price of cotton at the New Orleans Cotton Exchange to advance by $4.50 per bale, reaching autumnal highs unseen since the Civil War. On the evening of October 18, all warnings concerning the hurricane's landfall were terminated.
  Category 2 hurricane conditions were experienced in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. The storm's damaging effects were localized; in Florida, damage was limited to the Pensacola area. At the coast, the hurricane produced a storm surge generally 3–4 ft (0.91–1.22 m) above mean tide. These values were low relative to the storm's intensity due to the storm's small size and fast forward speed at landfall. Rough seas along Santa Rosa Island and the Fairpoint Peninsula caused $10,000 in damage to railroads as embankments were eroded. Most of the damage associated with the hurricane at its Gulf landfall was caused by the strong winds that accompanied the storm. Mobile, Alabama, recorded a peak gust of 120 mph (190 km/h), while a peak gust of 128 mph (206 km/h) was registered in Pensacola, Florida. These were new highs for both cities, topping records set three months prior in the 1916 Gulf Coast hurricane. One-minute sustained winds of 94 mph (152 km/h) were also documented in the two cities. The anemometer in Pensacola was blown away a minute after recording the peak gust and shortly before the storm's eye passed overhead. The winds damaged fences, roofs, signs, and trees. In Pensacola, 200 trees were felled. Several ships were lost in the Pensacola harbor and many small craft were damaged. Three schooners were driven ashore. The sinking of the steamship Flanders off Pensacola killed one person. Plateglass windows were smashed; a 13-year-old boy sustained injuries after being defenestrated by the winds. All electric and communication wires in Pensacola were knocked out of commission for 12 hours. Storm damage suspended rail service between the city and Jacksonville, Florida, for a week. The roof of a school was almost entirely peeled away. At the Pensacola Naval Yard, an office building was unroofed and the sheathing of the hangar was partially torn off.
  In Alabama, the heaviest damage occurred in Dale, Covin
caption: Surface weather analysis of the storm at its Yucatán landfall on October 15
exif: {}