High Wind — Polk, Florida

2004-09-25 to 2004-09-26 · Polk, Florida

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Jeanne followed the nearly the same path across Florida as Hurricane Frances three weeks earlier and was the unprecedented fourth hurricane to damage Florida during the 2004 hurricane season. The hurricane moved ashore along the east coast of Florida near Stuart late on September 25th with an eye 30 to 40 miles across. Jeanne took a course north of Lake Okeechobee and decreased to a tropical storm in eastern Polk County around 9 AM EDT on the 26th. The center of Jeanne curved north of Tampa Bay during the afternoon and travelled north along the coastal counties before exiting north through Levy County around 10 PM. In Highlands County there were 140 homes destroyed and 2,000 homes with major damage. Emergency Management estimated the total damage to be $452 million. A peak wind of 82 knots (94 MPH) was recorded in Sebring at 3 AM EST on 09/26/2004. In Polk County a peak wind gust of 67 knots (77 MPH) was recorded in both Frostproof and Bartow between 5-6 AM EST on 09/26/2004. In Hardee and Sumter Counties the damage was limited to trees falling on homes, vehicles, and power lines. The damage total was estimated by doubling the insured losses unless otherwise noted. The doubling accounted for uninsured losses and damge to the public infrastructure. Flood damage was included within these totals because it was not possible to extract the flood damage information from the available data.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5427720. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.