The storm, which earned its nickname because it reportedly had two center eyes at one point, devastated the coast. And that was before a steel and stucco honeycomb of condominiums spread along the beachfront.
One hurricane researcher says Palm Beach County is more vulnerable to storm surge because residents haven't experienced what a hurricane-driven ocean is capable of in more than 50 years.
Hal Needham, who has a Ph.D in climatology from Louisiana State University, has spent eight years analyzing storm surge data as part of his U-Surge Project, which looks at the histories of storm surge events in coastal areas.
Last month, he posted his Palm Beach County assessment, choosing the area to analyze first over more flood-prone regions because he believes residents have a false sense of security when it comes to surge. The analysis, which focuses on West Palm Beach and Lake Worth, can be found at www.u-surge.net.
"From a psychological understanding, I think Palm Beach is really underestimating their storm surge vulnerability," Needham said. "What happens if the 11-foot storm surge from 1947 repeats itself? It could happen this year."
While Florida hasn't had a hurricane make landfall in a decade, Palm Beach County did get a glimpse of the power of storm surge during 2004's Hurricane Frances. The storm, which made landfall as a Category 2 on Hutchinson Island, came with 6.3 feet of surge, according to Needham, and tore 240 feet off the Lake Worth Pier.
"The idea is just to bring public awareness," said Needham, who is the director of the Center for Coastal Heritage and Resiliency at the Galveston Historical Foundation. "Mississippi may be more physically vulnerable than Palm Beach, but if you talk to people there they say, yeah, we have a major problem with storm surge and flooding."
A 2014 study published by the American Meteorological Society found 82 percent of deaths directly attributable to Atlantic tropical cyclones between 1963 and 2012 were caused by storm surge, rain or surf. Just 8 percent of hurricane-related deaths were wind-related.
"While people think of wind first and foremost, that's not what is killing the most people," said National Hurricane Center Director Rick Knabb during the 2016 National Hurricane Conference in Orlando.
Yet, the same 2014 study, notes that a survey of coastal residents found "nearly three out of five respondents have never heard or read an estimate of the potential storm surge risk in their area."
In Palm Beach County, the hurricane evacuation maps are built around storm surge threats over wind. The point emergency managers push is to "run from surge, hide from wind."
"The biggest thing we do is try to disassociate the category of storm from the surge," said Michael Resto, emergency management specialist with Palm Beach County's Division of Emergency Management. "The category of storm as we know it has everything to do with wind and nothing to do with water."
Consider Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Its strongest winds never came close to Palm Beach County, but it blew in powerful waves that breached Manalapan's sea walls, pulled Lantana's lifeguard station into the sea, sank a floating burger stand in the Intracoastal Waterway and undermined oceanfront pools.
According to Needham, Sandy's storm surge was just 2.29 feet as measured at the Lake Worth Pier.
Two months earlier, Tropical Storm Isaac packed little punch, yet dumped as much as 18 inches of rain, leaving western communities under several feet of water for days.
"Long story short, Palm Beach County is vulnerable to inundation, but because of climatological factors and a bit of good luck, the area has avoided any substantial storm surges for more than 50 years," Needham wrote in his U-Surge analysis. "We can only hope residents realize their luck will run out and salt water will once again inundate their coastal communities."
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