A tidbit of local history and a stern reminder that we are still in hurricane season and Florida’s Gulf Coast especially Apalachicola remains vulnerable.One of the most catastrophic storms in the history of our city made landfall some 115 years ago and literally left the community in ruins.
Today, Oct 10 marks the anniversary of that fateful day, where a cyclone hammered the shorelines of Apalachicola on the night of October 10, 1894.
The storm left in its path, two dead, a six-foot surge, unroofed houses, destroyed docks, streets lined with dead fish and shattered lives.
All forms of communication were out most of the day and the next, while inhabitants of the city sought refuge from the storm surge on the Hill, once there, found themselves giving ground to gale force winds.
According to a published report in the Wednesday, October 12, 1894 edition of the New York Times, the powerful storm traveled up the west coast from Cedar Key toward Apalachicola on the night of Oct 10 and made landfall between the hours of 7:00PM and 10:00PM.
Local commerce came to a halt as one of Apalachicola’s major enterprises Murat’s Wholesale Fish Company along with other fish houses and oyster factories laid flatten, while thousands of rotten fish littered the streets.
Kimball Lumber Company reported the greatest loss. Five barges loaded with lumber owned by the company and moored at East Pass, were tossed about and lodged in the marsh two miles north of the city.
Both floating lumber and timber churned by winds from the vicious storm, shattered downtown businesses to destruction, while soft mud and brush lined there floors and shelves.
The storm caused $20,000 worth of aggregate property damage, with Kimball receiving the bulk of the loss totaling $10,000 to Murat’s $4,000.
Post research conducted by Robin Vroegop
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