Pensacola Caught It

The Hurricane Struck There and Cut the City Off

Pensacola, Fla., October 3 – (Special)- The most destructive storm that Pensacola has experienced in twenty years, began at 6 o’clock yesterday morning and raged, with increased fury, until a late hour yesterday evening. The nearest approach to yesterday’s gale was the storm of 1881.

The storm had been brewing since Saturday. Hard rains fell Saturday afternoon, and Sunday brought a storm of such great intensity as was not expected by any one. At 4 o’clock a. m. yesterday, the wind freshened and the rain increased in force. By 5 o’clock a. m. a terrific southeast gale was blowing, which continued at the rate of fifty miles an hour until noon, when the wind shifted to the south and increased to sixty miles. Between 2 and 3 o’clock p. m., it began to shift to the southwest, and at 2:45 o’clock p. m., the storm had reached its climax, the wind, at this time, having reached a velocity of sixty-six miles an hour. The rain fell in torrents and was swept in blinding sheets through the streets.

At the bay front, people stood in a drenching rain, watching the mighty elements in their work of destruction.

No loss of life has been re[ported, but upon every street, uprooted trees, broken fences and roofless buildings testify to the storm’s force. On Baylen street wharf, the largest building, used by Warren & Co., for smoking fish, was blown into the bay. It was stored with cured fish and the firm’s loss will be great. On the same wharf, a dwelling and its contents was lifted from its foundation and dropped into the bay.

The greatest damage was on the bay. The Portuguese bark, Josephine, and the Norwegian bark, Wilhemela, were blown on the beach. One of the vessels is in a dangerous position but it is thought that both can be floated. The fishing __nack, Isabella, is also on the beach. Before the storm reached its height, several steamships that were taking on cargo, raised steam and ran down to the lower bay, where they had plenty of sea room.

Every stick of timber in the bay was cast adrift, and is now strewn along the beach.

Railroad communication is cut off. The mail train on the Pensacola and Atlantic road, which left here for Jacksonville yesterday morning at 6:30 o’clock, could get no further than Bohemia, on the bay shore, and was compelled to return. The 1:35 o’clock p. m. train on the Louisville and Nashville, also encountered washouts and was compelled to return to the city. The only train reaching the city during the day, was from the north, at 4:35 o’clock. All telegraphic communication was cut off before 10 o’clock yesterday, both companies wires being down in every direction, and no news of the storm could be sent out last night.

The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, GA 4 Oct 1893
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Transcribed by Sue Yerby. Thank you, Sue!