The main hurricane that introduced modifications to the Tampa Bay space nonetheless seen at this time
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TAMPA, Fla. – What some would later name “The Great Storm” pounded the Tampa Bay space, flooding a lot of Pinellas County and South Tampa 176 years in the past this week.
“Nobody knew in September of 1848 {that a} main hurricane was on its manner,” mentioned Historian Rodney Kite-Powell of the Tampa Bay Historical past Middle.
The lighthouse keeper on Egmont Key on the mouth of Tampa Bay feared his household can be swept away, so he put them in a rowboat.
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“He waded to the center of the island and tied it to as many timber as he may discover,” mentioned Andy Huse of the College of South Florida Libraries Particular Collections. “Islands have been minimize up and sand was rearranged dramatically.”
The nice storm introduced modifications the Bay Space nonetheless sees at this time.
“Hurricanes, highly effective hurricanes, have the impact of opening and shutting passes,” mentioned Kite-Powell.
John’s Cross between Treasure Island and Madeira Seashore, now a well-liked leisure vacation spot, is a cross created by the Nice Storm of September 25, 1848.
READ: Hurricane Charley 20 years later: Remembering the devastating storm
Our space would not be hit with such power once more till October 1921, however newspaper tales of heavy harm in Tampa have been quashed. Builders needed to promote land to individuals up north.
“That they had so many individuals name in and say you possibly can’t do that. You are going to put us out of enterprise,” mentioned Huse.
“They principally lied in regards to the quantity of harm that was right here,” mentioned Kite-Powell.
However have been any classes discovered?
“5 years later, we truly constructed a hospital on an island in Hillsborough Bay, on Davis Islands. After all, that might be Tampa Normal Hospital,” mentioned Kite-Powell.
Solely in Florida have large storms modified issues a lot. The one comfort is the historic rarity of direct hits by main hurricanes right here in the Tampa Bay space.
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