South Florida Sun Sentinel from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • 12

PN Monday, September 18, 2006 78 South Florida Sun-sentinel SOUTH FLORIDA '26 storm would be devastating ft4 1 mm afcjfc i U- I i i i onto the shore. A strong storm like the 1926 hurricane, which was said to have spent at least three days as a Category 4 hurricane before landfall, has the opportunity to spend days transferring its energy to building waves in the ocean. No major hurricanes, defined as Category 3 or above, have made landfall in South Florida since Andrew in 1992. Hurricane Wilma paralyzed the region last October, causing approximately 12.2 billion in damage and knocking out power to 98 percent of South Florida customers. But when Wilma came through, it was effectively a Category 1 storm.

"Everyone in South Florida thinks we went through the worst of it in Andrew," Pfost said. "People don't understand it could be so much worse." Aluminum Storm Panels increase in population and wealth, if that hurricane were to hit today, it would unfortunately be quite a bit more than Katrina." Katrina caused an estimated $8 1 .2 billion in damage when it hit South Florida, then devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005. The hurricane center says if the 1 926 storm hit today, it could cause more than $110 billion in damage. Much of the damage from Katrina resulted from devastating flooding associated with a storm surge of nearly 30 feet. Storm surge is not usually a major problem on Florida's east coast, where the steep ocean floor and proximity to the Bahamas prevent the swelling of massive waves.

There is a luck factor involved, as the angle a storm takes relative to the coast largely determines where the water gets pushed AcoiiisoBi Shutters I Dealid (re'ctly with the manufacturer) S. ffTZZf Wllfllflt By Josh frank STAFF WRITER It's known simply as "The Big Blow." But 80 years ago today, the region was pounded by the Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 a storm that, if it hit now, would potentially be the most devastating ever. "Everyone here is from someplace else, and they don't know the history," said Rusty Pfost, a weather service meteorologist who has studied the storm extensively. "Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of people living in South Florida today have no idea that the barrier islands will go underwater in the wrong conditions." In 1926, South Florida was in the midst of a boom, as its population and wealth exploded. But that came to an end the morning of Sept.

18. Roaring ashore near Miami Beach at 6 a.m., the storm packed Category 4 winds of 140 mph. Worse, it brought a 15-foot storm surge to Coconut Grove. "We have not had a storm surge like the 1926 storm brought in recent memory," saidPfost. "We know about Hurricane Andrew and the wind, but we forget about the storm surge." The 1926 storm, which is blamed for bringing an early start to the Great Depression in South Florida, also led to the creation of the nation's first building codes.

Hurricane-force winds stretched from "the upper Keys to past Palm Beach," according to Chris Landsea, the National Hurricane Center's science and operations off icer. By comparison, Andrew, the second-most expensive storm on record behind Katrina, had hurricane-force winds that "only went from Key Largo to the Dade-Broward line." "This thing would have been about triple the diameter, so the impact would be much more severe because of that," Landsea said. "Because of the EMPLOYEE RIGHTS Workplace Discrimination Sexual Harassment Unpaid Overtime 4. Vt a. e.

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