Reader John C. Griffin recommends the book Killer ‘Cane: The Deadly Hurricane of 1928 by Robert Mykle. This was Hurricane #4 of the Atlantic Hurricane Season of 1928, a Category 5 hurricane, with max wind speeds of 140 miles per hour (mph). When it came ashore in Florida on 16 September, it was still a cat 4 with winds of 135 mph. 2,500 people died.

John Griffin remarks:

That storm made a direct hit on Ft. Lauderdale, washed out levees on Lake Okeechobee putting Belle Glade and several small towns under water, drowning thousands in its wake. There’s considerable deja vu with today’s storms concerning the book as a couple chapters say vast majority of drowning victims were black people living in poverty with either insufficient news updates or means to evacuate residences.

And the author’s blurb about what happened sounds very familiar:

It was dark. Sixty-three people were trapped in a coffin-like air pocket in the cramped attic, one on top of the other. A flashlight would come on then quickly be turned off to conserve the batteries. Except for two small vents at each end of the attic, there was no other opening but the trap door down to the raging waters. The house trembled as the water tried to lift it off its foundation. They had to make ready to escape. There was only one way out – through the roof.
—Killer ‘Cane: The Deadly Hurricane of 1928 by Robert Mykle.

I wonder how much this hurricane added to the dislocations of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, in which 700,000 people were permanently displaced, which resulted in the Flood Act of 1928, and in Herbert Hoover, who helped with federal assistance (a new idea at the time) becoming president at the next election?

It seems that failure to protect your own people can lead to change of government, which is a risk that afffects insurers and the general economy.

-jsq