A Tribute to the Fallen Ones
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Located at the Public Library
SEPTEMBER 16, 1928 -- a hurricane hit the Caribbean, then moved onward and upward to Florida's Atlantic coast. From Fort Pierce to Palm Beach, buildings shattered and splintered as the big wind blew, but its final fury was spent on the tiny farming communities that dot Lake Okeechobee's southern shore. When the hurricane roared ashore at Palm Beach September 16, 1928, many coastal residents were prepared. But inland, along Lake Okeechobee, few conceived the disaster that was brewing. The storm struck first in Puerto Rico, killing 1,000 people, then hit Florida with 125 mph winds. Forty miles west of the coast, rain filled Lake Okeechobee to the brim and the dikes crumbled. Water rushed onto the swampy farmland, and homes and people were swept away.
In roughly six hours -- no one knows exactly how long -- winds churned the water in that shallow lake, the humble muck dike broke and a wall of water spilled out of the lake with the destructive force of a tidal wave. Bone-chilling floodwaters swirled around the people’s knees, how shrieking winds smothered cries for help, how pelting rain felt like needles piercing skin.
How many died in that terrible tragedy? No one knows for certain, though estimates range from 1,770 to 2,300. People searched, but they didn't find all the bodies and couldn't identify many of those they did. Helen McCormick, 13 at the time, remembers men cradling babies -- dead babies -- in their arms. ``Are these your children?`` they asked the people who passed by.
And where are they buried, these victims of the storm? Some here, some there, some lost forever to the sawgrass and muck.
In a matter of hours, towns from Clewiston to Canal Point -- home to 6,000 people -- were awash in a sea of disaster. Weeks later, they were still digging out. Years later, they were still rebuilding. Decades later, the `28 storm and its aftermath still color Florida's past -- and its future.
Often called the third worst disaster in American history (the 1889 Johnstown flood and the 1900 Galveston hurricane took more lives), the storm brought the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to South Florida for its first major flood- control effort. A looming dike, as high as 45 feet in some places, was built to contain the waters. But the massive dike also meant that man, not nature, would control the water that nourishes South Florida and its people.
In effect, the storm changed the Glades -- and South Florida -- forever. Ironically, for all its impact and ecological implications, the storm is anonymous -- it has no official name. It is known only by its date and for its destruction.
To the people in the Glades, it will always be the night 2,000 died.
In front of Belle Glade's library on heavily traveled Main Street is a memorial sculpture of a family fleeing the storm. Hoover Dike is a constant reminder of the past. And at Port Mayaca Cemetery, a simple headstone on the mass grave carries the words:
``To the 1,600 pioneers in this mass burial who gave their lives in the `28 hurricane so that the Glades might be as we know it today.``
The cache is to name the building directly to the north (Across the street) of the statue. This will prevent any internet help...
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Gunax Tbbqarff sbe gur Qvxr. Abj znlor nabgure fgnghr jvyy abg unir gb or qrqvpngrq.