The Great Hurricane of 1780 was the deadliest tropical cyclone in the Western Hemisphere. An estimated 22,000 people died throughout the Lesser Antilles when the storm passed through the islands from October 10 to October 16. Specifics on the hurricane's track and strength are unknown, as the official Atlantic hurricane database only goes back to 1851.
The hurricane struck Barbados likely as a Category 5 hurricane, with one estimate of wind gusts as high as , before moving past Martinique, Saint Lucia, and Sint Eustatius, and causing thousands of deaths on those islands. Coming in the midst of the American Revolution, the storm caused heavy losses to the British fleet contesting for control of the area, significantly weakening British control over the Atlantic. The hurricane later passed near Puerto Rico and over the eastern portion of Hispaniola, causing heavy damage near the coastlines. It ultimately turned to the northeast and was last observed on October 20 southeast of Atlantic Canada.
The death toll from the Great Hurricane alone exceeds that of many entire decades of Atlantic hurricanes. Estimates are significantly higher than for the 1998 Hurricane Mitch, the second-deadliest Atlantic storm, for which figures are likely more precise. The hurricane was part of the disastrous 1780 Atlantic hurricane season, with two other deadly storms occurring in October. Late on October 15, it reached the Atlantic Ocean and after passing about east of Grand Turk Island; it is estimated to have recurved to the northeast. The hurricane passed southeast of Bermuda on October 18,
On October 19, strong winds and high tides were reported in the British province of East Florida (the northeastern portion of present-day Florida). NOAA employees, Christopher W. Landsea and Al Sandrik write that it is possible the hurricane passed much closer to the province than previously thought. Another possibility considered was an extension to a hurricane in the western Caribbean Sea. Because of lack of data, the exact track of the Great Hurricane is unknown.
Impact
Estimates of the death toll from the hurricane range from 22,000 to about 28,500, making it the deadliest hurricane in the recorded history of the Atlantic hurricane basin. The hurricane began affecting the island with rain late on October 9. The ships in the bay broke their moorings by 4:00 the afternoon of October 10, and the full impact arrived around 6:00 in the evening. The hurricane produced violent winds "so deafening that people could not hear their own voices."
The hurricane stripped the bark off trees and left none standing on Barbados.
Spanish islands
Heavy damage was reported in southern Puerto Rico, primarily in Cabo Rojo and Lajas. Severe damage also occurred in the eastern region of the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo.
Losses by the French navy
A fleet of 40 French ships was struck off Martinique during the hurricane. Several hundred military personnel and about 9,000 civilians died; however, the French Navy's only loss was the frigate Junon.
It was not until 1953 that the United States Weather Bureau (now the National Weather Service) started naming hurricanes by human names, a practice relinquished in 1979 to the World Meteorological Organization, though it was only in 1960 that hurricanes stopped being officially named after saints in Puerto Rico.