On this date in 1928, a devastating hurricane hit West Palm Beach and the Lake Okeechobee area. The category 4 storm pushed a wall of water across the lake, obliterating the farming towns of Belle Glade, South Bay and Clewiston.

The official death count was placed at 1,836, but was surely much more. The overwhelming majority of those who died were residents of the lake towns.

Pompano Beach sustained heavy property damage, but no known fatalities.

As a result of this hurricane (and, to a lesser extent the 1926 hurricane), the federal government soon thereafter began the construction of a dike around Lake Okeechobee to prevent flooding.