The hurricane of 1906 was the sixth storm of the 1906 season. At its maximum intensity, it attained Category 3 status with winds as high as 120 mph. The storm made landfall west of Mobile on September 27, 1906 as a Category 2.
Winds of 105 mph were experienced in Pensacola, and storm surge at Santa Rosa Island was measured at 14 feet.
Damage
An article published in the Pensacola Journal several days after the storm summarized some of the its damage:
| The water rose eight and one-half feet above normal. The quarantine station and life saving station on Santa Rosa Island ... were washed away by the sea breaking over the island ... The frame houses at Ft. Pickens suffered and all of the frame houses at Ft. McRae which were only a few feet above the sea level were washed away ... The great Tarragona Street wharf and Commendencia Street wharf of the L & N Railroad Co. ... are only slightly injured. Muscogee wharf was damaged in the old portion. | ||
—"Mayor Bliss on Press Reports." Pensacola Journal, October 2, 1906. | ||
The U.S. Weather Bureau's September 1906 Monthly Weather Review further estimated the storm's damage:
| In the vicinity of Pensacola the damage is estimated to be: to navy-yard, forts, etc., $1,100,000; by tides along the shores of East Bay, Escambia Bay, etc., $125,000; ... by winds and rain at Goulding, Fla., $13,000; to timber and turpentine interests in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, $40,000. | ||
—"The West Indian Hurricanes of September 1906" by E. B. Garriott | ||
Images
Front page of the next morning's Pensacola Journal
Looking northerly on Palafox Street from just south of Romana; Thiesen Building is visible at right
Looking easterly on Main Street from Palafox
Looking northeasterly on Baylen Street
Remnants of Muscogee Wharf
References
- "The West Indian Hurricanes of September 1906" by E. B. Garriott. From the U.S. Weather Bureau's September 1906 Monthly Weather Review.