The 1891 Martinique hurricane, also known as Hurricane San Magín, was an intense major hurricane that struck the island of

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...

and caused massive damage. It was the third hurricane of the

1891 Atlantic hurricane season The 1891 Atlantic hurricane season began during the summer and ran through the late fall of 1891. The season had ten tropical cyclones. Seven of these became hurricanes; one becoming a major Category 3 hurricane. Because there were no modern sa ...

and the only major hurricane of the season. It was first sighted east of the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc betwe ...

on August 18 as a Category 2 hurricane. The storm made landfall on the island of

, where it caused severe damage, over 700 deaths and at least 1,000 injuries. It crossed eastern

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

while tracking on a northwestward direction on August 19–20, passed the

Mona Passage The Mona Passage ( es, Canal de la Mona) is a strait that separates the islands of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. The Mona Passage connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean Sea and is an important shipping route between the Atlantic and the Panama ...

on August 20 and

the Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

on August 22–23. It crossed the

U.S. State In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and dissipated in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

after August 25. Total damage is estimated at $10 million (1891 USD). The storm is considered to be the worst on Martinique since 1817.

Meteorological history

The equivalent of a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale with winds of was first observed at 1200 UTC on August 18, 1891, about east of

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

. Tracking northwestward at , at 1800 UTC the storm attained winds that correspond to Category 3 status, what is now considered major hurricane. That night, the hurricane passed over Martinique, lashing the island for four continuous hours. It is reported that numerous people suffered deafness on the island during the passage of the storm, believed to be a result of drastic decreases in

barometric pressure Atmospheric pressure, also known as barometric pressure (after the barometer), is the pressure within the atmosphere of Earth. The standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure defined as , which is equivalent to 1013.25 millibars, 7 ...

. After reaching a peak intensity with winds of and a minimum central pressure of 961 mb, the storm began to weaken, and was downgraded to the equivalence of Category 2 status early on August 20. At 1800 UTC, it tracked just to the south of

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

and, as it began to turn northward, it made landfall on the extreme eastern edge of the

with winds of . Around midnight on August 21, the cyclone passed north of

Grand Turk Grand Turk Island is an island in the Turks and Caicos Islands. It is the largest island in the Turks Islands (the smaller of the two archipelagos that make up the island territory) with . Grand Turk contains the territory's capital, Cockburn To ...

of the

Turks and Caicos Islands The Turks and Caicos Islands (abbreviated TCI; and ) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and n ...

. During the late afternoon and into the evening hours there, frequent rain squalls occurred, and at 10:15 pm a strong gust of wind was reported. After that gust, the winds decreased in intensity, until around 12:00 am when winds picked up from the west. By 8:00 am the next morning, the wind had become south, and rain was steadily falling on the island. Back on a northwestward track, it continued to weaken, and tracked through the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

on August 22. The center of the storm was reported to have tracked directly over

Crooked Island, Bahamas Crooked Island is an island and Districts of the Bahamas, district, part of a group of The Bahamas, Bahamian islands defining a large, shallow lagoon called the Bight of Acklins, of which the largest are Crooked Island in the north and Acklins ...

. Beginning on August 23, a ridge of high pressure was situated off the southeast coast of the United States. Now a Category 1 hurricane, the ridge of high pressure prevented the storm executing a recurve to the north or northeast. Instead, it tracked over the

Peninsula as a tropical storm, making landfall near

Homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses *Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres *Homestead principle, a legal concept th ...

on August 24. Subsequently, it moved into the

, where it officially dissipated on August 25. However, there were reports of a cyclonic disturbance in the east Gulf of Mexico until August 29.

Impact

, the storm struck the east side of the island at about 6:00 pm. Throughout the storm, frequent lightning occurred. Houses, crops and trees across the entire island were obliterated. Especially, the loss of

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

and

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

crops had a large effect on Martinique's economy. At Ducos, it is noted that only four homes remained following the storm, and at St. Pierre, at least 34 people lost their lives. At Fort de France, the main part of the hospital collapsed, crushing to death two artillery men. Also, a military camp in Balata was destroyed, where houses comprising the campus suffered from severe roof damage. A number of soldiers there sustained injuries from airborne wood blanks and beams. All vessels at harbors were lost during the hurricane. Initially, the total number of fatalities was placed at sixty. Later, 118 were reported dead in coastal locations alone. Even after the storm, finding an exact number of casualties was difficult because all roads in and out of interior sections of the island were impassable, blocked by downed trees and large amounts of washed out soil and rock. For a final death toll, the August 1891 Monthly Weather Review states that 700 perished in the storm. However, some newspapers report that the passage of the cyclone resulted in at least 1,000 deaths in Martinique. Additionally, another 1,000 people sustained injuries of one form or another as a direct result of the cyclone. Total damage is estimated at $10 million (1891 USD). Elsewhere, when the hurricane passed north of Grand Turk, three people drowned on the island, and there was some damage to small houses and shipping vessels. In the

of Florida, it hit near

as a minimal hurricane, blowing boats onshore near present-day Cutler, though due to lack of observations near the landfall location its impact in the state is largely unknown.

Meteorological history

Impact

See also

References

Further reading