1926 Nassau hurricane

The Great Nassau hurricane, also known as the second San Liborio hurricane, was a powerful Atlantic hurricane that caused catastrophic damage and tremendous casualties in the Lucayan Archipelago, particularly in and near the Bahamian capital Nassau, as well as additional fatalities and damages from the Greater Antilles to the Southeastern United States. The first named storm and hurricane of the busy 1926 Atlantic hurricane season, it developed a short distance east of the Lesser Antilles on July 22, becoming a hurricane the following day. On July 24 it struck southwestern Puerto Rico as a moderate hurricane, then weakened as it traced the northeastern coast of Hispaniola. As it neared the Turks and Caicos Islands, on July 25, it began to re-intensify, and by the time it reached the Bahamas a day later, it was a potent Category 4 hurricane on the present-day Saffir–Simpson scale with winds of 140 mph (220 km/h)—the strongest such observed in the month of July until 2005. After passing over or near Nassau, the cyclone began to lose intensity, and on July 28 impacted the First Coast of Florida with winds of 105 mph (165 km/h). Once inland, the storm quickly degenerated over the Southeastern United States, and became extratropical on July 31; it dissipated near the Great Lakes region a couple of days later.

The hurricane was at its deadliest and most destructive in the Caribbean and Bahamas, claiming as many as 455 lives there, though some estimates of the dead were higher. Heavy rainfall in Puerto Rico led to flash flooding that exacted a toll of 25 lives and $5 million in losses. Similar phenomena, along with shipwrecks, in the Dominican Republic killed 162 people and induced a loss of $3 million. The worst to impact New Providence and the city of Nassau since 1866, the cyclone ravaged the Bahaman archipelago, destroying roughly 20% of the sponging fleet there, flattening entire communities on many of the islands, and causing as many as 400 fatalities. The impacts were so severe that many Bahamians were temporarily forced to migrate to the United States. Damage from the Miami and Havana–Bermuda hurricanes subsequently compounded recovery, adding over a hundred additional casualties. In the United States, particularly Florida, the storm caused comparatively modest damage, mainly to coastal structures, though heavy rainfall and tornadoes also attended the storm. 10 deaths were reported in the state of Florida, though high tides and prolific rains extended farther north, along the Southeastern coastline. In all, the storm killed at least 464 people—unofficially up to 598–and inflicted at least $19.1 million in damages.