I'll start with my onetime place of residence in South Florida: Boca Raton (though I also once resided in Pompano Beach). Don't just look at recent storms (though by all means include them); go as far back as possible! I'd like to see as complete a record as possible for each poster's local area—including both devastating events in recent years and destructive storms of the distant past. Try to look at many different metrics: wind, storm surge, rainfall, tornadoes, et al.
Wind
The top seven contenders that I could find were as follows:
1906 (18 Oct) – Cat 3 passed out to sea near Broward/Dade county line
1926 (18 Sept) – Cat 4 made landfall near Cutler Bay, south of Miami
1928 (17 Sept) – Cat 4 passed over Palm Beach & West Palm Beach
1933 (4 Sept) – Cat 3 made landfall on Jupiter & passed over Indiantown
1947 (17 Sept) – Cat 4 passed over downtown Fort Lauderdale & Davie
1949 (26 Aug) – Cat 4 made landfall on Lake Worth & hit Greenacres
1950 (18 Oct) – Cat 4 passed over Coconut Grove & paralleled E coast
Based on reports, the 1928, 1947, and 1949 hurricanes probably produced Cat-2+ sustained winds in southern Palm Beach County (PBC), at least in small areas along the immediate shorefront on the barrier islands. 1926 and 1906 likely produced less severe winds, but not by much. Any one of these five storms probably exceeded what Wilma generated in southern PBC. 1933 and 1950 (King) were too small and passed too far away to rival the other storms, in terms of local effects.
Rainfall
1901 (TS #1) – 10”+ over South FL, including Broward & PBC
1910 (H #5) – 21.6” Hypoluxo, FL (10-20”+ over much of PBC)
1924 (H #10) – 10-15”+ over rural & coastal Broward & PBC
1947 (H #9) – 10-15”+ over rural & coastal Broward & PBC
1948 (H #9) – 12” at Boca Raton, FL, in SE PBC
1959 (H #3) – 13.04” Loxahatchee NWR, FL (10”+ over SE PBC)
1974 (STS #1) – Up to 14” over Boca Raton, FL, in SE PBC
1981 (Dennis) – 10”+ over rural southern PBC (Everglades)
1992 (TD #1) – 10”+ over much of southern & SE PBC
1994 (Gordon) – 10-15”+ over much of southern & SE PBC
1998 (Hermine) – 10”+ over coastal areas of Broward & PBC
1998 (Mitch) – 11.20” at Boca Raton, FL, in SE PBC
1999 (Irene) – 17.45” Boynton Beach, FL (10”+ coastal PBC)
Sources: http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/tropical/rain/tcmaxima.html, http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/tropical/rain/1956NHRPreportNo3.pdf
I haven't included storm surge because local tide data are lacking and Boca Raton is not as vulnerable to surge as Biscayne Bay, owing to the steep nearshore shelf.
What are the worst storms ever to affect your area?
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What are the worst storms ever to affect your area?
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The posts in this forum are NOT official forecasts and should not be used as such. They are just the opinion of the poster and may or may not be backed by sound meteorological data. They are NOT endorsed by any professional institution or STORM2K. For official information, please refer to products from the NHC and NWS.
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