The Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 was a large and intense tropical cyclone that devastated the Greater Miami area and caused catastrophic damage in the Bahamas and the U.S. Gulf Coast in September of the year 1926, accruing a US$100 million damage toll. As a result of the devastation wrought by the hurricane in Florida, the Land Boom in Florida ended. The hurricane represented an early start to the Great Depression in the aftermath of the state's 1920s land boom. It has been estimated that a similar hurricane would cause about $235 billion in damage if it were to hit Miami in 2018. The tropical cyclone is believed to have formed in the central Atlantic Ocean on September 11. Steadily strengthening as it tracked west-northwestward, the tropical storm reached hurricane intensity the next day. As a result of scattered observations at open sea, however, no ship encountered the storm until September 15, by which time the cyclone had reached major hurricane intensity north of the Virgin Islands. Strengthening continued up until the following day, when the storm reached peak intensity with a strength equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane. This intensity was maintained as the storm tracked across the Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas to landfall near Miami on September 18. The cyclone caused immense destruction throughout the islands and across southern Florida. The storm destroyed hundreds of structures in its path over the islands, leaving thousands of residents homeless. At least 17 deaths occurred on the islands, though many others—some related only indirectly to the storm—were reported in the aftermath. Upon striking South Florida, the cyclone generated hurricane-force winds over a broad swath of the region, causing widespread and severe structural damage from both wind and water. Most of the deaths occurred near Lake Okeechobee, when a large storm surge breached muck dikes and drowned hundreds of people. The hurricane quickly traversed the Florida peninsula before emerging into the Gulf of Mexico near Fort Myers. The storm flooded surrounding communities and barrier islands, while strong winds downed trees and disrupted electrical service. The storm later made two landfalls with weaker intensities on Alabama and Mississippi on September 20 and 21, respectively. The storm caused additional but less severe damage in those states, primarily from heavy rains and storm surge. Land interaction caused the cyclone to deteriorate and later dissipate on September 22. Meteorological history Due to the sparseness