page_title: 1896 Cedar Keys hurricane
section_title: Pennsylvania
hierarchical_section_title: 1896 Cedar Keys hurricane / Impact and aftermath / Pennsylvania
caption_attribution_description: English: A monument to the 78th &amp; 102nd New York Infantry Regiments on Culp&#39;s Hill at the Gettysburg Battlefield, struck and damaged by a fallen tree after a hurricane on September 30, 1896.
context_page_description: The 1896 Cedar Keys hurricane was a powerful and destructive tropical cyclone that devastated much of the East Coast of the United States, starting with Florida's Cedar Keys, near the end of September 1896. The storm's rapid movement allowed it to maintain much of its intensity after landfall and cause significant damage over a broad area; as a result, it became one of the costliest United States hurricanes at the time. The fourth tropical cyclone of the 1896 Atlantic hurricane season, it formed by September 22, likely from a tropical wave, before crossing the Caribbean Sea just south of the Greater Antilles. It entered the Gulf of Mexico as the equivalent of a major hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale, and struck the Cedar Keys—an offshore island chain that includes the island and city of Cedar Key—early on the morning of September 29 with winds of 125 mph. The area was inundated by a devastating 10.5 ft storm surge that undermined buildings, washed out the connecting railroad to the mainland, and submerged the smaller, outlying islands, where 31 people were killed.
context_section_description: The storm arrived in Pennsylvania as an extratropical cyclone late on September 29, still accompanied by strong winds that disconnected wires and interrupted communications throughout the state. Property damage was severe in southeastern parts of the state, especially York and Lancaster counties, where barns were demolished and houses unroofed. Wind gusts in Harrisburg peaked at 72 mph (116 km/h) shortly after midnight. Debris from trees and buildings rained down on the city's streets as the storm produced erratic damage patterns, characterized by distinct two- or three-block gaps in the destruction. Large trees were uprooted "with masses of earth clinging to them as big as a room." In all, damage reached $200,000 (equivalent to $6.1 million in 2019) in Harrisburg. On the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at Philson, two freight trains violently collided, killing six vagrants. Several more train wrecks were attributed to obstructing storm debris. In Steelton, an overpass collapsed onto the tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad shortly before a train careened through the rubble, damaging the locomotive and several cars. Additionally, two roundhouses were destroyed in Lebanon, with eight locomotives sustaining damage in one of the structures.
  The third incarnation of the Columbia–Wrightsville Bridge—a 5,390 ft (1,640 m) covered railroad bridge across the Susquehanna River—was shoved off its piers and demolished by the intense winds. Several people were reportedly inside the bridge when it collapsed, but this was not confirmed. The stone, wood, and steel span was replaced by a steel truss bridge less than a year later. At Sunbury, two steamboats sank in the Susquehanna. Across Lancaster County, hundreds of farmers lost their entire tobacco crops that were stored in barns and ready for market. Some of the tobacco barns were carried off their foundations and blown afield. The storm also destroyed more substantial brick structures. Damage in the county was estimated at $1 million (equivalent to $30.7 million in 2019).
  Two men died in the Patterson Coal Company miners' village in Shamokin that was devastated by the winds and a subsequent fire that together destroyed dozens of houses and shanties. The storm destroyed equipment and facilities at the nearby Colbert Colliery, putting hundreds of miners out of work. In Reading, two men died in the collapse of an iron furnace casting house which left five others badly injured. Six children lost their lives to a storm-induced fire in tenement housing belonging to a mining company in Natalie. Hundreds of trees were blown down or broken on the historic battlefield at Gettysburg National Park, largely on Culp's Hill and Big Round Top. The 66th Ohio Infantry monument on Culp's Hill was destroyed by a fallen tree, and the nearby monument to the 78th and 102nd New York Volunteer Infantries sustained minor damage. In addition to the winds, several inches of rain fell in parts of the state; Altoona recorded 3.79 in (96 mm) of precipitation. Flash flooding along the Juniata River rushed through Huntingdon, washing out streets and railways, inundating homes, and drowning livestock. Washouts and landslides plagued railroads throughout western Pennsylvania. Overall, the storm caused over $2 million (equivalent to $61.5 million in 2019) in damage in the state.
caption: The 78th and 102nd New York Volunteer Infantry Regiments monument damaged by a fallen tree on the Gettysburg Battlefield
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