Final Report of the Committee of the Structural Division on Florida Hurricane

In enumerating the effects of the Florida hurricane of September 17 and 18, 1926, it may be well to give a brief description of the storm. As in all tropical hurricanes, the wind blew in a circle with an area of calm in the center. F. L. Stearns, Assoc. M. Am. Soc. C. E., who visited Miami on behalf of the Committee soon after the storm, stated that the first half came from the northeast and the second half from a little east of south instead of from an exactly opposite direction. He felt that the explanation for this was that the storm changed form somewhat when it struck the land. He assumed that the center of the storm passed directly over Miami. It can be readily explained, however, by assuming that the center of the storm passed somewhat to the south of Miami. In his report Mr. Stearns gave the storm effects on all the various forms of structures, but as a large part of these were not designed by engineers and are of such a character that they are not susceptible of close mathematical analysis, the Committee can add very little to present knowledge by a study of them. As the damage done to these structures was so many times greater than that done to structures designed by engineers, the necessity of technical design or more careful construction for the smaller structures as well as the larger ones is clearly shown.