The True Story of the Most Intense Hurricane You've Never Heard Of
How one mistake led to a harrowing race to save hundreds of men trapped in the Florida Keys.
Fred Ghent and Ray Sheldon were honest men who made a mistake. But when they underestimated an approaching hurricane, at least 250 luckless World War I vets died, caught in the path of the most intense hurricane that has ever struck the United States.
It hit the Florida Keys on September 2, 1935.
It was late summer, in the depths of the Great Depression. In the once-prosperous city of Key West, residents were trying to survive on an average monthly income of $7—about $125 in 2017 dollars. The city had declared bankruptcy.
The Federal Emergency Relief Administration came up with two options: move Key West’s 12,000 residents to Tampa, or clear the garbage from the streets, fix up the quaint but dilapidated
