Given its location next to the Gulf of Mexico, one would think that the Tampa Bay region would have an extensive history with hurricanes.
On the contrary, that is not the case.
Recommended Videos
The last time a hurricane made landfall in the Tampa Bay area was 101 years ago.
Known as the Tampa Bay hurricane or the Tarpon Springs Hurricane, in 1921, the region was battered by the Category 3 catastrophe.
A storm surge estimated at nearly 11 feet in downtown Tampa and 8 feet in downtown St. Petersburg caused unfathomable damage.
Small islands in the area went underwater, citrus farms were destroyed, and boats, structures and buildings were smashed to pieces.
Six people died as a result of the hurricane.
Of course, back then, there wasn’t the technology that there is today, so people weren’t as well warned or prepared, which made the disaster worse.
In what some might think is a surprise, there hasn’t been another hurricane to strike the region since.
So, why has this been the case?
One reason is that it’s rare for a hurricane track to come from the southwest of the state, according to AccuWeather. A majority of the storms are generated in waters to the east of Florida.
Another reason is that if a hurricane comes from the southwest, it is weakened by the mountains of Cuba.
There’s also another theory in that large burial mounds from the Tocobaga civilization are still present in the area, which provide supernatural protection from hurricanes, according to the Washington Post.
However, despite all those theories, make no mistake: Luck has played a role, too.
“That has been our story for a hundred years now,” Rui Farias, executive director of the St. Petersburg Museum of History, told AccuWeather. ““That the hurricanes are heading right for us, and just veer off course.”
According to the Tampa Bay Times, the most common time for a hurricane to hit the area is late in the season in October, such as what happened in 1921.
That’s when systems most commonly form in the western part of the Caribbean and move toward Florida’s west coast.
All that history has really come to light with Hurricane Ian poised to strike the area.
Hopefully it weakens, but if disaster does strike, the area should at least have the technology to better brace for it than the people living in the area in 1921 did.