Labor Day Hurricane of 1935

The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 was a very compact and destructive hurricane that reached Category 5 status on the Saffir-Simpson scale. It was one of only three Category 5 hurricanes to strike the United States in the 20th century. The storm formed east of the Bahama Islands and traveled due west through the Bahamas. Once it passed the Bahamas, it began a gentle turn to the northwest and headed straight for the Florida Keys. Winds in this hurricane were estimated to be approximately 200 mph (320 km/h) at maximum, and the central pressure was unofficially measured as low as 26.35 inches of mercury (892 hPa). This measurement of barometric pressure was lower than in the other two category 5 hurricanes, Camille and Andrew, and a record for the Western Hemisphere.

The only transportation linking the Florida Keys to mainland Florida was a single railroad line, the Overseas Railway portion of the Florida East Coast Railway. A train was used to evacuate many of the World War I veteran soldiers who lived in the Florida Keys. The evacuation train was hit by the storm surge and high winds, killing 259 of them. In total, at least 408 people were killed by the hurricane.

After striking the Keys, the storm continued up the west coast of Florida and landed again on the panhandle of Florida as a category 2 hurricane. It then passed through Georgia (where it continued to cause wind and flood damage), South Carolina, North Carolina and emerged back into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Virginia. The storm then continued until it became extratropical south of Greenland.