TAMPA, Fla. – What some would later call “The Great Storm” pounded the Tampa Bay area, flooding much of Pinellas County and South Tampa 176 years ago this week.
“No one knew in September of 1848 that a major hurricane was on its way,” said Historian Rodney Kite-Powell of the Tampa Bay History Center.
The lighthouse keeper on Egmont Key at the mouth of Tampa Bay feared his family would be swept away, so he put them in a rowboat.
Your guide to hurricane season 2024
“He waded to the middle of the island and tied it to as many trees as he could find,” said Andy Huse of the University of South Florida Libraries Special Collections. “Islands were cut up and sand was rearranged dramatically.”
The great storm brought changes the Bay Area still sees today. …