On September 2, 1935, the Labor Day Hurricane—one of the most intense hurricanes ever to make landfall in the United States—struck the Florida Keys as a Category 5 storm. It came ashore near Long Key with estimated sustained winds of 185 mph and a central pressure of 892 millibars, the lowest ever recorded at a U.S. land station.
The hurricane transformed the Upper and Middle Keys into a landscape of ruin within hours. A storm surge estimated at roughly 18 feet inundated low-lying islands, demolished buildings, tore apart roads and rail infrastructure, and stripped vegetation from the narrow chain of islands. At least 485 people died, including roughly 260 World War I veterans working in federal relief camps connected to the Overseas Highway project.
Its most enduring image is the failed rescue train. The Florida East Coast Railway dispatched an eleven-car train to evacuate residents and the veterans’ camps, but delays meant it reached Islamorada just as the storm surge arrived. The inrushing sea swept the passenger cars from the tracks; the locomotive and tender remained upright, surrounded by wreckage and floodwater.
The hurricane also dealt a fatal blow to Henry Flagler’s Overseas Railway. Some 42 miles of track were destroyed, the rail line to Key West was never rebuilt, and portions of its route later became the foundation for the Overseas Highway.
Image: Train swept off the tracks by the Labor Day Hurricane in the Florida Keys via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
