In recognition of the start of hurricane season 2015, we’re revisiting some of the major storms that have affected the Gulf region over the past 90 years. Today, we take a look at Great Miami Hurricane.

Great Miami Hurricane

Landfall: Sept. 18, 1926

Level: Category 4

U.S. Deaths: 373 *

Highest wind level: 150 mph

The Great Miami Hurricane produced the highest sustained winds recorded in the U.S. up to that date. It is still the most expensive U.S. hurricane when adjusted for modern dollars. Many lives were lost because the first tropical cyclone warning was issued only one day before the storm struck Miami. It moved parallel to the Gulf Coast and made landfall over Alabama on Sept. 20 and Mississippi on Sept. 21. The University of Miami, founded one year earlier, was nicknamed the “Hurricanes” after the storm.

*figure may vary

SOURCE: National Hurricane Center, hurricanescience.org, Wikipedia.org