Talk:1926 Miami Hurricane

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[edit] Total Damages

Total damages of this hurricane cannot be put at 100 billion. That is adjusted for inflation *and* growth, and thus is fairly meaningless except as a predictor of what future hurricanes could do. We want the value adjusted only for inflation. Jdorje 17:54, 22 July 2005 (UTC)

That's opinion not fact. I put both the actual 1926 figure and the inflation figure ($98 billion). People need to have an idea of how bad this storm was. They shouldn't have to guess how much $100 million was to people back then.

E. Brown, Hurricane enthusiast - Squawk Box 20:45, 5 August 2005 (UTC)

Um, E. Brown? The inflation calculator [1] says that $100 million in 1926 is $1.05 billion in 2005 dollars. Inflation over the last 80 years was not 100,000%. --Golbez 20:49, August 5, 2005 (UTC)

I never believe that online crap. They are notorious for being wildly inaccurate. That is without question a conservative estimate. In addition, $100 million dollars was the damage estimate for Florida (which was actually rounded up from $76 million). What about the storm's impact on the Gulf coast? That figure also does not include interior furnishings of the homes (half their total cost) nor does it include office and business furnishings (which would be very high). Also, this is only insured damages. The figure that was given was not mathmatically adjusted for total cost (usually twice the insured cost). I estimate that true damages were no less that $150 million dollars and as high as $200 million. That would bring the raw inflation to $1.58 billion to $2.11 billion and this could be an underestimate. There really is no way to know, as the damage figures for the Gulf coast, uninsured property, and interior furnishings were not published.

E. Brown, Hurricane enthusiast - Squawk Box 21:38, 5 August 2005 (UTC)

Hey, $2.11 billion is still a far cry from $98 billion. I have no problem with you figuring out if it should be $1.05 billion or $2.11 billion - but it is most assuredly not $98 billion. --Golbez 21:46, August 5, 2005 (UTC)

When people today see even the $2.11 billion figure, they'll say 'Wow, they got off easy.' No they didn't. $100 million was close to earth shattering to people back then. I personally believe that in reading this article, readers fail to comprehend the enormity of the disaster. The economic boom was over and this caused hundreds of businesses to loss hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue between the hurricane and the start of the Great Depression. This fact would slip by readers in this article. The hurricane was the Andrew of its day. The damage it did far surpassed every other hurricane up until that time, including the Galveston Hurricane; yet another fact that is not expressed in the article. The wealth normalization figure does give a good idea as to how people felt about the tragedy then. People thought of Andrew's $23 billion in damage like we would think of a $44 billion-dollar hurricane today. People thought of the '26 storm's $100 million in damage like we would think of a $98 billion-dollar hurricane today. This is the goal of wealth normalization. Does this make sence? It should.

E. Brown, Hurricane enthusiast - Squawk Box 22:09, 5 August 2005 (UTC)

That's all well and good, but the fact remains it didn't cause $98 billion in damage. By all means, mention it - properly - in the article, but don't cite it as "2003 dollars" in the infobox. The $98 billion is an opinion, a wild guess. The $100 million is fact. --Golbez 22:18, August 5, 2005 (UTC)

Wild is a little aggressive. I'm sure they had some educated reasoning behind it.

E. Brown, Hurricane enthusiast - Squawk Box 23:07, 5 August 2005 (UTC)

Perhaps. But you get my point, I hope. --Golbez 23:16, August 5, 2005 (UTC)

E Brown, I think you are completely off base here. Those figures (like the 100B one) aren't supposed to show how damaging the hurricane was, or how much damage it caused, they are supposed to estimate how much damage it would cause if it hit today. This is really good for PR since it makes it easier to get better hurricane-preparedness legislation to go through (for instance) but it doesn't have much historical use. Wealth normalization may be useful but it normalizes to *today*'s wealth - on an absolute standard I'm sure the 1970 Bhola Hurricane was by _far_ the most damaging hurricane ever. Population normalization is absurd to use in the context of an encyclopedia because this is extrapolation of the future rather than a recording of past events. Jdorje 02:39, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

"The wealth normalization figure does give a good idea as to how people felt about the tragedy then." This figure is not just saying what the damage would be if a Category 4 hurricane of the same intensity hit Miami today, it's saying if a hurricane today destroyed the exact same percentage of structures in Miami as the 1926 storm did, $98 billion is the estimated total cost. My quoted sentence now stands firm, explained and defined. I will carry the arguement no farther. My point has been made, take it or leave it.

E. Brown, Hurricane enthusiast - Squawk Box 00:12, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Todo

Needs content. I'm sure there's a lot out there. Jdorje 07:25, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

I've added the 1926 issue of the Monthly Weather Review as a resource to the article. It has tons of good information about the storm that could really improve the article. I might add some information to the artucle later. CapeVerdeWave 11:40, 25 March 2006 (UTC)