The center of category 3 Hurricane Jeanne reached the Florida east coast near Sewall's Point in Martin County shortly after midnight on September 26th.  Remarkably, this is in the same location where Hurricane Frances came ashore on September 5th. Jeanne was moving to the west northwest at 12 mph and maintained hurricane strength as it crossed most of the Florida Peninsula. Jeanne was downgraded to a tropical storm in the afternoon of September 26th when it was about 40 miles northeast of Tampa Bay. In Volusia County, hurricane force wind gusts began with the rain bands on the north side of Jeanne as they moved on shore. The county, already battered by Hurricane Frances suffered extensive additional damage. Fresh water flooding from local heavy rain, and Flooding of the St. Johns River affected more than 200 residences and business properties. Total damage estimates were near $60 million.  Hurricane winds damaged or destroyed thousands of  homes and businesses. Hundreds of thousands of residences were with out power.  Most official NWS surface wind equipment failed prior to the max wind of the storm when power was knocked out. The highest recorded wind was only 55 knots (63 mph), but wind damage suggest numerous gusts in excess of hurricane strength.  The lowest recorded pressure was 993.6 mb.     In Brevard County, the strongest winds swept across the coast south of Cape Canaveral and the southern coastal communities. Grant, Micco and the south part of Palm Bay were hit much harder than the northern locations. County wide damages were reported at $320 million. Especially hard hit was the mobile home community of Barefoot Bay. A Palm Bay man drowned when his pickup truck ran off a road into a deep flooded ditch. Highest wind gusts in the county were, 79 knots (91 mph) at the NWS Melbourne office. Based on radar information, it is estimated that wind gusts over 100 kts (115 mph) swept across the southern coastal areas. The lowest recorded pressure for the storm was 986.8 mb at Melbourne. Total damage estimates for the county were near $320 million. Indian River County was hit hard by Jeanne being to the right of the land falling eye. 8,300 residences were damaged or destroyed and over 41,000 residences were damaged. Total wind damage for the county was over $2 billion. Highest wind gusts in the county were, 106 knots (122 mph) at Vero Beach and 101 knots (116 mph) at Sebastian.  The lowest recorded pressure for the county was 965.5 mb at Vero Beach. The north part of the hurricane eye passed over St. Lucie County producing $1.2 billion in wind damage. The marinas along Ft. Pierce inlet were hit destroying dozens of boats.  A 34 year old man was electrocuted when his truck ran into a power line.  Thousands of homes and business were damaged and destroyed by the wind. Especially hard hit were the dozens of mobile home communities. Highest wind gusts in the county were, 111 knots (128 mph) from a private residence just north of Ft. Pierce inlet. The lowest recorded pressure for the county was 952.9 mb at Ft. Pierce. The eye of Hurricane Jeanne passed over the community of Sewell' Point in Martin County. Over 180 residences were destroyed with about 4000 residences either damaged or destroyed.  The highest wind speed recorded was 91 kts (105 mph) in Jensen Beach.  No pressure data was recorded for Martin County. Severe beach erosion occurred compounding the damage from Hurricane Frances just 3 weeks earlier.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in MARTIN, FLORIDA
From 25-SEP-04 20:14:00 to 26-SEP-04 05:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: NEWSPAPER

Hurricane (Typhoon) in ST. LUCIE, FLORIDA
From 25-SEP-04 20:14:00 to 26-SEP-04 05:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: NEWSPAPER

Hurricane (Typhoon) in INDIAN RIVER, FLORIDA
From 25-SEP-04 20:39:00 to 26-SEP-04 05:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER

Hurricane (Typhoon) in BREVARD, FLORIDA
From 25-SEP-04 22:00:00 to 26-SEP-04 06:00:00 (EST)
Property damage: 320.4M
Crop damage: 7.7M
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER

Hurricane (Typhoon) in VOLUSIA, FLORIDA
From 25-SEP-04 01:40:00 to 26-SEP-04 08:00:00 (EST)
Property damage: 59.5M
Crop damage: 1M
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER