1916 Virgin Islands hurricane

Inclement weather prevailed over the Windward Islands between October 7–8, yielding the storm's only discernible effects during its unclear origins. The developing system generated rough seas off Dominica; damaging waves in Roseau advanced well-inland.[6] Jetties and shore roads were washed away by the surf. Parts of coastal villages and small craft were lost to the heavy seas.[11] Buildings that had stood for 60–70 years were destroyed.[12] Rural parts of the island experienced significant damage.[13] Similar seas were reported on the evening of October 8 at Basseterre in Saint Kitts, where waves overtopped the island's seawall.[6] Strong winds swept over eastern Puerto Rico on October 9 as the hurricane passed to the east.[14] At San Juan, peak winds were just under gale-force,[15] while winds faster than 50 mph (80 km/h) were measured farther east.[14] At Naguabo, the winds held at or above gale-force for 14 hours, with a peak velocity of 70–75 mph (113–121 km/h).[14] Buildings on a mostly abandoned U.S. naval station on Culebra were destroyed by the storm.[16]

The hurricane greatly affected the entire Virgin Islands archipelago between the evening of October 9 through the morning of October 10.[17][18] The islands' resources were already strained due to World War I, exacerbating the hurricane's impacts and thwarting measures implemented by the colonial authorities to bolster the economy of the Danish West Indies.[19][20] One account called it the most destructive storm since the 1867 San Narciso hurricane.[21] The American consulate in the Danish West Indies sent a cablegram to the U.S. State Department remarking that the hurricane was "the most disastrous known".[22] Accounts of the hurricane in The Bulletin and Lightbourn's Mail Notes, newsletters in Saint Thomas, made similar judgements, as did American archaeologist Theodoor de Booy.[23][24][25] There was little warning in advance of the storm's approach: the U.S. Weather Bureau transmitted general notices of the hurricane's path to points in the West Indies on October 8 while hurricane signals were sounded[note 3] on the Virgin Islands on the afternoon of October 9 hours before landfall, leaving little time for residents to batten down.[9]

Of the Danish West Indies, Saint Thomas experienced the most severe effects from the hurricane.[18] Nearly every building on the island incurred damage, and several among them were destroyed.[13] Many buildings that remained standing were nonetheless wrecked beyond repair.[26] Slave cabins were separated from their foundations and smashed into flinders against other buildings or trees.[25] The severity of impacts was largely uniform throughout the island, though Savanne and Frenchman's Hill were most seriously affected.[27] Severe flooding occurred in Charlotte Amalie, Frenchtown, and Lindbergh Bay.[28] The 6–10 ft (1.8–3.0 m) storm surge tore buildings away from their foundations and inundated large tracts of land.[29][30] Extensive losses were wrought upon shipping.[11] The harbor at Saint Thomas, normally shielded from most tropical disturbances, saw extensive impacts;[27][31] the harbor was most susceptible to a hurricane approaching from the south, as was the case in the 1916 hurricane.[32] Steamers were grounded upon the island by the force of the wind-driven waves.[13] Beached ships included the ocean liners Calabria and Wasgenwald of the Hamburg America Line and the Danish dredge St. Hilda.[33] Calabria and Wasgenwald, both German ships, were interned in the Danish West Indies since the start of World War I.[29] Calabria was considered a total loss and St. Hilda was reduced to smaller fragments.[33][29] Two other Danish ships were severely damaged and many smaller vessels capsized.[33] The distress vessel Blandford was the only ship in the harbor not moved from her moorings.[27] Two electric harbor cranes operated by the West Indian Company and built to withstand a 100-mph (160 km/h) wind were mangled and partially strewn in the sea.[34][11][35][36] Recent additions to the Saint Thomas harbor also sustained heavy blows.[11] A machine shop was swept away by the sea.[36]

The harbor in Saint Thomas suffered a heavy blow.

Electric wires were blown down and warehouses were unroofed across Saint Thomas.[37] The iron sheet roofs of homes were pried off by the wind.[38] Many trees were uprooted or debarked. In the market square, trees laid mangled with communication and electric wires,[26] littering public thoroughfares alongside amalgamations of wind-torn gutters and rooftop tiling.[38] At the supply station of the West India and Panama Telegraph Company, ancillary buildings and storehouses were destroyed. Nearby, a coconut plantation was rendered infertile due to damage sustained to the tops of trees.[39] As more sturdier structures, places of worship fared comparably well but were nevertheless subject to the violence of the winds; rectories were seriously damaged and a chapel was destroyed.[36] Some people sought shelter in parsonages.[40] In addition to the winds and surge, the hurricane also produced heavy rainfall; at Charlotte Amalie, the storm's rainfall total in 24 hours was a 1-in-20 year event.[41][note 4] Merchant stocks were tarnished by the rainfall.[38] Four deaths—all drownings—were documented at Saint Thomas;[18] these occurred at the harbor in addition to several injuries.[36]

Damage in Saint Croix

On Saint Croix, destruction befell entire towns and many factories.[42] The town of Christiansted reported extensive damage.[37] The schooner Vigilant capsized in the Christiansted reef;[43] the ship was raised after sinking in the 1876 San Felipe hurricane only to suffer the same fate in 1916.[44] In Frederiksted, saltwater was found on the upper-stories of residences, marking the height of the storm's waves. The roof of one home destroyed a stable and a few rooms after being blown away. Ninety percent of fences and most trees were knocked down.[45] Heavy damage was also wrought in rural areas of Saint Croix,[13] where telecommunications were disrupted.[11] At several settlements, homes were badly damaged; only 4 homes of 23–25 at an estate in Annaly were destroyed.[46] Anegada, Tortola, and Saint John of the Virgin Islands were devastated by the hurricane.[17] At Tortola the hurricane's winds were strongest on the evening of October 9, holding at around 100 mph (160 km/h) for an hour.[6] A report sent to The Sun, a New York-based newspaper, enumerated thirty-two fatalities in Tortola and eight in Saint John. However, a later report indicated five deaths combined in Saint Croix and Saint John from injuries caused by falling walls or trees.[18] More than 50 people were injured in Saint John.[47] Nearly all houses on the Saint John and Tortola were destroyed.[48] Most boats at Tortola were destroyed, and some were dispersed by the storm's wind and waves on inland hills.[48] Significant damage was dealt to the island's crops. Two thousand people were displaced by the storm in Tortola.[12] Across three settlements in Saint John, all houses except one were razed. Swaths of trees were denuded in some areas of the island.[49] Although the force of the storm was stronger on Saint John than on Saint Thomas, the island's lower population led to a lesser monetary toll to infrastructure;[50] however, total casualties were higher in Saint John due to a lack of communications, leaving the island's residents unaware of the storm's approach.[47]