Storm of the Century

The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935

By: Willie Drye

Narrated by: Jason Culp

Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

In 1934, hundreds of jobless World War I veterans were sent to the remote Florida Keys to build a highway from Miami to Key West. The Roosevelt Administration was making a genuine effort to help these down-and-out vets, many of whom suffered from what is known today as post-traumatic stress disorder. But the attempt to help them turned into a tragedy. The supervisors in charge of the veterans misunderstood the danger posed by hurricanes in the low-lying Florida Keys.

In late August 1935, a small, stealthy tropical storm crossed the Bahamas, causing little damage. When it entered the Straits of Florida, however, it exploded into one of the most powerful hurricanes on record. But US Weather Bureau forecasters could only guess at its exact position, and their calculations were well off the mark. The hurricane that struck the Upper Florida Keys on the evening of September 2, 1935, is still the most powerful hurricane to make landfall in the US. Supervisors waited too long to call for an evacuation train from Miami to move the vets out of harm’s way.

The train was slammed by the storm surge soon after it reached Islamorada. Only the 160-ton locomotive was left upright on the tracks. About 400 veterans were left unprotected in flimsy work camps. Around 260 of them were killed. This is their story. It includes stories of some of the heroes of the Labor Day 1935 calamity.

©2019 Willie Drye (P)2019 Willie Drye

Wow!

This was an electrifying listen. For a long book with many hours I was swept away. The author presented a comprehensive story with many personal narratives that put you right there in the middle of the storm.

Solid history. Sometimes too much detail.

I have listened to several books about hurricanes and other weather disasters. This is as good as any that I have heard. However, be warned that there is a lot of detail here. In particular, there is a lot of detail about the state of the country and the politics of the country leading up to this disaster. Of course, you will also hear a lot about the actual hurricane, its course and devastation. Then there is a lengthy section (1/3 of the book?) about what happened after the hurricane, with a lot of detail about the various investigations and political fallout from the hurricane. This last section definitely seems anti-climactic to me. Most books would conclude relatively quickly after the disaster is over. I am not sure I really want to spend hours listening to so much detail about the investigations, especially when the author has already told us what happened and who is to blame for leaving veterans in harm's way. But some people will probably find this last part as interesting as the earlier parts of the book.

One thing that I found interesting was how the writer, in telling about the hurricane, would often write something like, ""The hotel just blew off the foundation like a paper bag,' said Smith." In a situation like this, you must assume that Smith made the statement at some later time that is not specified. Of course, the alternative would be to constantly say things like, "...said Smith a year later during the Congressional investigation" or "...said Smith in a letter he wrote to his sister while recovering in a hospital after the hurricane." I think the writer's choice here in how he handles quotes is reasonable and helps to streamline the story, but some historians might take issue with this approach.

I felt the reading was clear and expertly done, complete with credible voices for many of the characters.