The Great Bahamian Hurricanes of 1899 and 1932
The Story of Two of the Greatest and Deadliest Hurricanes to Impact the Bahamas
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Hurricanes have long been a fact of life here in the Bahamas. With our extensive but lengthy, exposed coastlines jutting into the Atlantic Ocean and reaching as far north and west as Florida and its Cays, and as far south as Cuba, and with our uniquely flat lands, shallow coastal waters, there is little wonder that these tempests have visited these islands before there was a Bahamas as we know it today. Hurricanes have literally shaped the landscape along our coast, and in a sense, the people as well. In fact, the Lucayan Indians-the first known settlers of the Bahamas believed that these islands were one big complete landmass but over the years they were separated by the howling winds and the giant waves of the hurricanes. This book discusses two of the most fearsome and violent hurricanes that have made a landfall in the Bahamas. All hurricanes have the potential to be destructive, but throughout the years several hurricanes that have visited the Bahamas were notable for a variety of factors, including high winds, massive floods or a large number of fatalities they left in their wake. In a country that is frequently visited by tropical cyclones, each generation seems to have a benchmark storm against which all others are measured. This book takes a look at two of these storms, and investigates two of the Bahamas most notable and memorable hurricanes and the impact that they had on the Bahamian society in their respective years.....
We will always remember powerful Bahamian hurricanes like Andrew in 1992, which caused devastation of epic proportions to the islands of Eleuthera, Abaco and Bimini. However, some of the truly historic hurricanes happened at a much earlier time and affected many other islands of the Bahamas than this storm. Hurricane Andrew was the defining natural disaster of the early 21st century for the Bahamas, but it was two major unnamed storms(unnamed because they occurred before tropical storms and hurricanes were assigned names), that brought unimaginable tragedy to the Bahamas at the end of the 19th century and early 20th century. On August 11th to 13th 1899 and September 5, 1932 these two notable and very destructive Bahamian hurricanes struck the Bahamas at peak intensities and resulted in the deaths of over 334 persons in 1899 and 18 persons in 1932 as they plowed through the islands of the Bahamas making these islands a wasteland of rubbles in their aftermath. During this era, the science of meteorology was in its infancy; without satellite photographs or computer models to warn of an approaching storm, residents had little or no idea of the peril awaiting the country. As often the case with hurricanes, the storm surge was the most damaging part of the storm followed by the strong winds. Many persons went out at sea on sponging and fishing trips with no idea a massive storm was approaching the Bahamas. Many of these fishermen were caught in these two storms never to be seen or heard from again. While others on land were simply washed away in their coastal homes. Many persons who fled the beach or coastal areas for stronger buildings farther inland were saved; however, many of those who stayed died. This second storm was the impetus for building codes and the building of many seawalls to protect many of the islands in the Bahamas from future storms.
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About the Book
Hurricanes have long been a fact of life in the Bahamas. With extensive exposed coastlines jutting out of the Atlantic and uniquely flat lands and shallow coastal waters, these islands had seen many tempests before there was a Bahamas as we know it today.
Hurricanes have shaped the islands’ landscape and, in a sense, their people as well. In the history of the Bahamas—often considered a patriarchal society in which the hurricanes traditionally bore the names not of women, but of the islands they devastated-- the storms have impacted all aspects of everyday life. A growing number of studies covering many aspects of hurricanes have examined their social impacts. Even so, the historical ramifi cati ons of the hurricanes of the Bahamas and of the wider realm of the Caribbean have rarely been approached.
The Great Bahamas Hurricane of 1899 and the Great Abaco Hurricane of 1932 hold special places in the archives of Bahamian history. These hurricanes were two of the worst natural disasters the country had experienced at the time, and even to this day these storms are considered among the top ten most destructive Bahamian storms of all time. These two notable and very destructive Bahamian hurricanes resulted in the deaths of over 334 Bahamians in 1899 and 18 in 1932. Learn why as author Wayne Neely explores the breadth and depth of each disaster—not only how they impacted the society at the time, but how they impacted the progression of history.
About the Author
Wayne Neely is a certified Bahamian meteorologist and forecaster; he has worked at the Department of Meteorology in Nassau, Bahamas, for the last twenty-two years. He indulges in his passion for writing in his spare time. This is the most recent of several of his books on the topic of Caribbean hurricanes.