1926 — Aug 25-26, Hurricane 3, east coast of Louisiana moving into central LA — 25

–25 Blanchard estimate. Although we locate information on only 19 specific deaths, we take note of a newspaper account of a pilot seeing bodies in the swamps/wetlands and bayous during an overflight. Thus we decide to use the estimate of 25 deaths used by Dunn and the National Weather Service documents. Given the difficult to access parts of the Louisiana coast as well as the fact that potentially fatal fevers started to spread along these devastated areas due to the unavailability of clean drinking water and reliance on sea-food which had been exposed to human waste runoff and the decaying bodies of fish and animals, it is quite possible that more than twenty-five people lost their lives directly or indirectly.

–50 Weimar Mercury, TX. “Storm Victims Number 50.” 9-3-1926, p. 3.
–34 Burt and Stroud. Extreme Weather: A Guide & Record Book. 2004, p. 205.
–27 AP. “Recover More Bodies in Gale Swept Section.” Monroe News-Star. 8-30-1926, p. 1.
–25 AP. “25 Known to be Dead in Louisiana Hurricane.” The News, Frederick, MD. 8-30-1926, 1.
–25 Dunn, Gordon E. and Banner I. Miller. Atlantic Hurricanes (Revised). 1964, p. 320.
–25 Hebert/Jarrell/Mayfield. The Deadliest, Costliest…[US] Hurricanes… Feb 1993, p. 80.
–25 Rappaport & Partagas. The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492-1994. 1995, p. 25.
Breakout of fatalities by locality where noted:
–9 Convent area, Mississippi River. Steamer L. E. Patton, sank at anchorage. US SIS 1927, 17.
–1 Convent area, Mississippi River. Woman drowned; body recovered but not identified.
–1 Felicity Island. Drowning; Charles Dupont, 10, son of fishing crew leader.
–1 Frenier, 14 miles south of Ponchatoula. Drowning when man’s store was flooded.
–1 Gulfport. Sailor electrocuted when he came into contact with a live wire.
–5 New Orleans. Monroe News-Star. “Five Killed, 18 Missing, New Estimate.” 8-27-1926, p.12.
–1 Electrocution. Lineman attempting to repair a high voltage line.
–? Unknown number of victims seen dead in coastal swampland during a seaplane fly-over.

Narrative Information

U.S. Steamboat Inspection Service: “On August 25, 1926, the steamer L. E. Patton, of 94 gross tons, while tied up in the Mississippi River near Convent, La., during a hurricane sank, it is believed, between 11 and 12 o’clock p.m., with a loss of 9 lives out of a crew of 10. Vessel, valued at $16,000, a total loss.” (U.S. Steamboat Inspection Service. Annual Report of the Supervising Inspector General…Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1927. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1927, p. 17.)

U.S. Weather Bureau, New Orleans Forecast District: “The only warnings required were in connection with the tropical hurricane of August 23-26….

“August 25, advisory, 9:30 a.m.: Tropical disturbance increasing in intensity approaching eastern Louisiana coast…extreme high tides…will probably occur between point where center strikes coast and Mobile….

“August 25, 3:30 p.m.: …Tropical disturbance of great intensity near eastern Louisiana coast moving slowly north-northeast. Increasing northeast and east winds will reach hurricane force to-night. Winds will be dangerously severe and tides high…

“August 25, advisory 9 p.m.: Tropical disturbance passing inland near and probably slightly east of Morgan City, La., moving north-northeastward, attended by dangerous shifting winds….

“The morning reports of the 26th showed that the storm had advanced inland to central Louisiana and had decreased greatly in energy…

“This tropical disturbance, increasing in intensity as it slowly approached the eastern Louisiana coast, reached the coast in the afternoon of the 25th as a remarkably intense hurricane. When on the Louisiana coast it was about half as extensive as the great storm of September, 1915, but the barometric gradient within 50 miles of the center was fully as steep as in that storm. From reports of damage, the usual condition of strongest winds to the right of the center was fulfilled….it is not surprising that winds of hurricane force occurred at Morgan City, which was to the left of the storm center and a few miles inland. West of Morgan City the wind velocity fell off rapidly…”

Newspaper

Aug 30, AP: “New Orleans, La., Aug. 30, — (By A.P.) – The list of known dead from the tropical hurricane was raised to 27 today with the recovery of the body of Captain George Theis, and six members of the crew of the tug boat Patton which sunk in the Mississippi river. The body of Charles Dupont, 10-year-old son of Claude Dupont, leader of a fishing crew on Felicity Island, also was recovered. Several other persons still were missing.

“Appeals for help for sufferers in the storm devastated parishes of Terrebonne and Lafourche were made by officials of the American Red Cross….[they] said that help was badly needed and asked contributions of food and clothing for the storm victims. Residents of Montegut, Little and Grand Caillou and Bayouduladge [Bayou Dularge] lost everything before the pounding fury of the storm. Houses and food were carried away by the high winds and spoiled by salt water. Boats carrying temporary supplies have been sent out from Houma.” (Associated Press. “Recover More Bodies in Gale Swept Section.” Monroe News-Star, LA. 8-30-1926, p. 1.)

Aug 31, UP: “New Orleans, La., Aug. 31 – (U.P) – With eleven bodies recovered and estimates placing the total dead from last Wednesday night’s hurricane as high as 25, small boats and a seaplane today continued the search for victims. Meanwhile the Red Cross, under the direction of Dover Crane of Washington, who arrived here yesterday, is giving aid to the many families in distress.

“Braxton Rhodes, commander of the seaplane that made the first discovery of storm victims’ bodies Saturday, told of flying over the swamp on the Louisiana coast where the full blast of the hurricane was felt.” (United Press. “Search For Bodies Goes On.” Rushville Daily Republican, IN. 8-31-1926, p. 3.)

Sep 1, AP: “New Orleans, Sept. 1. – (By A.P.) – Disease, travelling in the wake of the tropical hurricane, which raged up out of the Gulf of Mexico last week, already has brought fever to more than three score victims, reports reaching New Orleans said today. Ten definite case of typhoid fever were reported at Montegut and nearly fifty instances of undetermined fever by Father Joseph M. Coulombe, priest of the Sacred Heart church there, and Clarence Frazier, Indian guide, who came to New Orleans seeking aid for storm sufferers. Father Coulombe said that 100 families in that district were cut off from their regular water supply and drinking water was carried across the marshes. He said the air was filled with the stench of fish killed by the storm.

“Bayous over which most of the travel into the section is conducted in normal times are blocked by massed sea grass and debris and dynamite has failed to clear the routes for boats.

“Such water as is available for drinking purposes, the priest said, was swamp water and with clogging of the bayous typhoid has broken out. Food was so scarce, he said, that people were forced to subsist on crabs and fish taken from the polluted bayous.” (Associated Press. “Many Victims of Hurricane Now Have Fever.” Monroe News-Star, LA. 9-1-1926, p. 1.)

Sources

Associated Press. “25 Known to be Dead in Louisiana Hurricane.” The News, Frederick, MD. 8-30-1926, p.1. Accessed 9-12-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/frederick-news-aug-30-1926-p-1/

Associated Press. “Many Victims of Hurricane Now Have [Typhoid] Fever.” Monroe News-Star, LA. 9-1-1926, p. 1. Accessed 9-12-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/monroe-news-star-sep-01-1926-p-2/

Associated Press. “Recover More Bodies in Gale Swept Section.” Monroe News-Star, LA. 8-30-1926, p. 1. Accessed 9-12-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/monroe-news-star-aug-30-1926-p-1/

Burt, Christopher C. and Mark Stroud. Extreme Weather: A Guide & Record Book. W. W. Norton & Co., 2004, 304 pages. Google preview accessed 1-1-2014 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=NuP7ATq9nWgC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Dunn, Gordon E. and Banner I. Miller. Atlantic Hurricanes (Revised Edition). Baton Rouge LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1964, 377 pages.

Hebert, Paul J., J.D. Jarrell, Max Mayfield. The Deadliest, Costliest, and Most Intense United States Hurricanes of This Century (NOAA Technical Memorandum NWS-NHC-31). Miami, FL: National Hurricane Center, National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Feb 1993, 41 pages.

Monroe News-Star, LA. “Five Killed, 18 Missing, New Estimate.” 8-27-1926, p. 12. Accessed 9-12-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/monroe-news-star-aug-27-1926-p-23/

Monroe News-Star, LA. “Million Dollar Loss is Estimated After Big Storm.” 8-26-1926, p. 1. Accessed 9-12-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/monroe-news-star-aug-26-1926-p-1/

Monroe News-Star, LA. “Nine Persons on Roster of Gale Missing.” 8-28-1926, p. 1. Accessed 9-12-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/monroe-news-star-aug-28-1926-p-2/

Rappaport, Edward N. and Jose Fernandez-Partagas. The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492-1994 (NOAA Technical Memorandum NWS NHC-47). Coral Gables, FL: National Hurricane Center, National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, January 1995, 42 pages. Accessed 8-20-2017 at: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/NWS-NHC-1995-47.pdf

The Times, Harrison, Ark. “Four Known Dead in Louisiana Gale.” 9-3-1926, p. 3. Accessed 9-12-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/harrison-times-sep-03-1926-p-3/

United Press. “Search For Bodies Goes On.” Rushville Daily Republican, IN. 8-31-1926, p. 3. Accessed 9-12-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/rushville-daily-republican-aug-31-1926-p-3/

U.S. Steamboat Inspection Service. Annual Report of the Supervising Inspector General of the Steamboat Inspection Service for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1927. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1927. Accessed 9-12-2022 at: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000071882918&view=1up&seq=4

U.S. Weather Bureau. “New Orleans Forecast District.” Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 54, Issue 8, p. 357. Accessed 9-12-2022 at: file:///C:/Users/Wayne/Downloads/[15200493%20-%20Monthly%20Weather%20Review]%20NEW%20ORLEANS%20FORECAST%20DISTRICT.pdf

Weimar Mercury, TX. “Storm Victims Number 50.” 9-3-1926, p. 3. Accessed 9-12-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/weimar-mercury-sep-03-1926-p-3/