Storm of '28 Memorial Garden

On September 16, 1928, the third-largest natural disaster in the history of this country occurred in Palm Beach County, Florida, when more than 3,000 lives, mostly "Blacks" were lost due to hurricane winds that were estimated to have exceeded 150 miles per hour and to flooding caused by Lake Okeechobee washing over its muck levee in a 10-foot high wave. That tidal wave was reported to have flooded an area that was 30 to 35 miles wide in all directions. Six hundred and seventy-four bodies - ones that had been separated out as being "Black" victims, were tossed by grabbing their hands and feet into a mass gravesite in West Palm Beach without a proper burial. The Storm of '28 Memorial Garden Coalition is working to build a storm education facility and memorial on the site of the mass grave to honor our beloved ancestors who are buried there. The coalition hopes that you will join with them to bestow dignity, honor and respect to the 674 lost souls from that horrendous historical event. Please contact Robert Hazard, director, at 561.881.8298 or Rhazard988@aol.com, for more information on how you can help. Tax-deductible donations accepted.

There is not an accurate number of those who died as a result of the Storm of 1928. Immediately afterward, the number of victims were reported to be 2,300. A more realistic number would be from 3,000 to 6,000 deaths as a result of the Storm of '28. The basis for this number included the following considerations: "Mass Graves’’ (most bodies without coffins) are documented in Port Mayaca (1,600 bodies), Miami Locks (more than 800 bodies), and the "Unmarked Trench" in West Palm Beach (674 bodies). There were 61 whites and eight ‘‘Negroes buried in coffins at Woodlawn Cemetery in West Palm Beach with a marker. It is also documented that due to severe decomposition victims were interred where they were found without coffins or markers, or burned in the pyres. The pyres were noted as "dotted the horizon" in the "muck lands" in western Palm Beach County. Some were buried elsewhere by their families. Many were likely never found. There is no way to know the exact number of the black families wiped out, or individuals lost in this storm. Very few names were recorded. Neighbors who knew each other in the farming areas were also among the dead. After five days of lying in hot, wet muck the rapid decomposition made identification of bodies almost impossible.

The Storm of '28 is likely to have resulted in the highest number of black fatalities within 24-hour period by any cause throughout the entire history of the United States. Civil War battles and other events are still being researched to confirm whether or not this is true.