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| The 1926 Miami hurricane turned this car on its side and pushed it against a building. Photo credit: floridamemory.com/items/show/153841 |
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| Street scene shows some of the damage in Miami after the 1926 hurricane. Photo credit: floridamemory.com/items/show/141460 |
This year--2026--marks the 100th anniversary of the 1926 Miami hurricane. The tragedy helped lead to what we know today as Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami.
Internet and AI searches will give you details and photos about the destruction suffered in South Florida on Sept. 18,1926. This blog post includes actions taken by Catholic religious leaders and laity.
First, some quick facts about the Category 4 Great Miami Hurricane:
- Hundreds of people died and hundreds more went missing.
- Winds went from 19 mph at 8 p.m. Sept. 17 up to 145-150 mph at landfall less than 12 hours later, in the early morning of Sept. 18.
- Hurricane-force winds stretched along the South coast from the Keys to West Palm Beach.
- The storm's eye was between 30 and 40 miles wide.
- Two days later, on Sept. 20, 1926, the hurricane made a second Florida landfall in Pensacola, in the Panhandle, as a Category 3.
"The havoc caused by the hurricane, the poverty and desperation were aggravated by the Great Depression of 1929. Amid these circumstances, on March 8, 1931, the provision of assistance and social services to poor families was formalized."
Thus was Catholic Charities born in South Florida. But emergency relief had started right after the hurricane. A USA Today article (behind a paywall) notes how parishes immediately converted spaces into relief centers and housing centers right after the storm. Traumatized residents received food, supplies, housing and spiritual care.
Gesu Church in downtown Miami remained standing after the storm. It's believed the parish immediately opened as a shelter to house 200 children who'd been separated from their parents during the storm.
Parishioners at the Miami beachside St. Patrick's Church turned to physical work to handle their shock. Their church and school housed in refurbished stables were flattened in the storm. Two weeks later, the parishioners had made enough repairs for the school to reopen. I assume they made even faster fixes to set up a space for Mass.
Half a year later, the world had moved on but South Floridians still suffered. A Facebook post tells how religious leaders joined for a community-wide Easter Sunday Service on Miami's beachfront in 1927. In the Facebook photo, you can hardly see the sand for all the people crowded there.
A final note about the storm in Miami: Sept. 17,1926 was sunny, balmy and breezy. It was a typical beautiful Florida fall day. A Yale Climate Connections article says a hurricane warning wasn't issued until 11:30 that night. The storm came in fast after that.
That era's weather forecasting technology was more primitive than what we have today. Even we non-meteorologists can track storms from inception. I appreciate that.
As on that day, hurricanes today can and do swell and blow in quickly. And change course. I remember having only a few hours to prepare when Hurricane Charley altered course and headed straight for my area in 2004.
It's smart to always start with season with a plan and supplies in place.
Let's not grow complacent during this quiet hurricane season in Florida.
Blog sources:
- https://www.miamiarch.org/CatholicDiocese.php?op=Article_16184162453761
- https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2026/09/a-look-back-at-the-devastating-great-miami-hurricane-100-years-later/
- https://www.facebook.com/groups/HistoricFloridaX/posts/2090465074610505/
- https://stpatrickmiamibeach.com/church/parish-history/
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