1909 Grand Isle hurricane
| Category 3 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS) | |
A collage of damage pictures in an edition of The Daily Picayune from the storm in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi
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| Formed | September 13, 1909 |
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| Dissipated | September 22, 1909 |
| Highest winds |
1-minute sustained: 120 mph (195 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | 952 mbar (hPa); 28.11 inHg |
| Fatalities | At least 400 total |
| Damage | $11 million (1909 USD) |
| Areas affected | Cuba and the United States Gulf Coast |
| Part of the 1909 Atlantic hurricane season | |
The 1909 Grand Isle hurricane was a large and deadly Category 3 hurricane that caused severe damage and killed more than 400 people throughout Cuba and the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Forming out of a tropical disturbance just south of Hispaniola on September 13, 1909, the initial depression slowly intensified as it moved west-northwest towards Jamaica. Two days later, the system attained tropical storm intensity and turned northwestward towards Cuba. On September 16, it attained the equivalent of a modern-day Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale and further strengthened to attain winds of 100 mph (155 km/h) before making landfall in Pinar del Río Province, Cuba on September 18. After a briefly weakening over land, the system regained strength over the Gulf of Mexico, with peak winds reaching 120 mph (195 km/h) the following day. After only slightly weakening, the hurricane increased in forward motion and made landfall near Grand Isle, Louisiana on September 21. The system quickly lost strength after moving over land, dissipating the following day over Missouri.
In the Caribbean, little impact was known to have been caused by the storm outside of Cuba where rough seas killed 29 people. In the United States, the hurricane wrought catastrophic damage across Louisiana and Mississippi. Throughout these states, 371 people are known to have been killed, making it the sixth deadliest hurricane in United States history at the time; however, it has since been surpassed by five other cyclones. Along the Louisiana coastline, a powerful storm surge penetrated 2 mi (3.2 km) inland, destroying the homes of 5,000 people. Thousands of other homes throughout the affected region lost their roofs and telegraph communication was crippled. In terms of monetary losses, the storm wrought $11 million (1909 USD; $265 million 2010 USD) in damage throughout its path.
The origins of the Grand Isle hurricane were in a tropical disturbance over the western Atlantic Ocean in early September 1909. Enhanced by a strong area of high pressure over the Azores and British Isles, the system was able to gradually intensify as it neared the Lesser Antilles. On September 10, barometric pressures across several of the islands in the eastern Caribbean fell, indicating that a disturbance was moving through the region. According to the Atlantic hurricane database, maintained by the National Hurricane Center, the system developed into a tropical depression south of Hispaniola in the Caribbean on September 13. However, meteorologist José Fernández Partagás stated that there was no evidence of a closed circulation, a key component of tropical cyclones, until September 14. Tracking west-northwestward, the depression brushed the coast of Haiti before attaining tropical storm intensity off the northwestern coast of Jamaica on September 15.
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