1915-1919

1915

Back in 2005, for one brief moment in September it looked like Katrina wouldn't even be the most damaging storm of the season, when Rita reached cat-5 status and looked like it was aiming for a metro area far larger than New Orleans. What if Rita had hit? In 1915 it did.

There were two important storms in 1915. The first struck Galveston as a Cat-4 storm in mid August, causing the usual damage. It killed 11 people in Galveston and several hundred elsewhere in Texas. It flooded much of Galveston and destroyed many crops inland. If the storm struck today it would make Ike look like nothing. The other important storm struck New Orleans in late September. Unlike Katrina, which made its final landfall in Mississippi, this storm hit New Orleans dead-on from the south. There was some flood damage, not as bad as Katrina though. (I'm not sure areas like the Lower 9th Ward existed in 1915) The hurricane was more damaging to areas of southern Louisiana south of New Orleans, areas that are now eroding and thus denying protection to New Orleans whenever the next storm sweeps in from the south. If either of these storms hit today, they would almost certainly do more damage than Andrew, and possibly as much as Katrina.

1916

This season was pretty active. The first important storm of the season struck the Mississippi coast at Cat-3 strength, around where Katrina did 89 years later. Unusually for a major hurricane, it struck in early July. Another hurricane struck Texas this year as a cat 4 near Corpus. Wikipedia's article on the storm doesn't mention all that much damage, but who knows. It might have done very little damage like Bret (1999) or a lot of damage like Celia (1970). Any Cat-4 that strikes the US is pretty significant though. There have only been three such storms in my lifetime.

1917

Only one particularly destructive storm formed in this season. It moved through Jamaica, western Cuba, and northwest Florida (around Pensacola), damaging crops and structures as it went. The most severe damage probably occurred in western Cuba and the Isle of Youth, where it made landfall as a cat-4 storm.

1918

Only one major hurricane, and there's not much information about it on Wikipedia. It struck about where Hurricane Rita did, and at about the same intensity, Cat-3.

1919

This season featured a particularly intense hurricane that struck the Florida Keys and Corpus. It was the sixth most intense landfalling hurricane in the US - intensity measured by central pressure. (I'm referring to its landfall in the Keys) It was also the sixth deadliest hurricane in the US. Most of those people died at sea, but some died in Corpus - the hurricane was not forecast to make landfall in the area. My guess is this was probably the storm of record for Corpus before Celia.

The 1919 storm is also noteworthy for prompting the construction of the Key West hurricane grotto, built at a Catholic church on the island. Since the grotto was built, no one has died from a hurricane on Key West. At least that's what Jeff Masters says. If he's right - wow. The 1919 storm was very bad indeed, but it wasn't the worst for the Keys. The worst is yet to come.