Calendar of Events

Hurricane Donna -audio visual presentation by the late historian Irving R Eyster

August 21 2017 Time: Monday 6:30 pm FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Island Community Church, mm 83

The presentation will be on Hurricane Donna, one of the worst Hurricanes to hit the Florida Keys during the last century. The first two weeks of September produce the most destructive storms to strike the Florida Keys. Labor Day in 1935 and Donna in 1960. Donna, the fourth storm of 1960 was destructive killing sixty-three people before leaving Africa. She traveled across the Atlantic destroying, killing and flooding with her 130 mph winds. Gordon Dunn, Chief of the hurricane bureau issued warnings for the lesser Antilles and then for the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, The Dominican Republic and Haiti. Donna crossed the Turks Island and the lower Bahamas, with 140 mph winds and dumping nineteen inches of rain. The Florida Keys were ordered to fly the hurricane flags from Key West to Key Largo, as it had turned to the north and was expected to cross the Keys in the Islamorada area. At 11:00 pm, Friday, September 9th the hurricane crossed the Keys. The eye was twenty miles wide and reached just above Marathon to Lower Matecumbe, with winds at Sombrero Light reaching 166 mph. Little of the hurricane force was felt in Key West so a convoy of bulldozers and heavy equipment cleared a path so the Coast Guard, Red Cross and utility companies could reach the most devastated areas and to protect looting. They were surprised to find Marathon over fifty percent destroyed. The village of Craig was missing. Upper and Lower Matecumbe were ninety percent destroyed. Windley and Plantation Key were in bad shape as was Tavernier. Approaches to three bridges were gone and the Tea Table Relief bridge had a 90' section missing. Two were reported dead in the Islamorada area but the storm had taken over 150 lives before it moved into the cold waters of Maine. For more information call Barbara at 305-393-0940.