1915 New Orleans hurricane

The 1915 New Orleans hurricane moved over Grand Isle, Louisiana, on September 29, 1915, and continued north into the New Orleans area.¹ NHC's best track puts its landfall on the southeast Louisiana coast at 1800 UTC (noon CST) on September 29 as a Category 3 hurricane with 110-knot (127 mph) winds and a central pressure of 944 mb.²

The Weather Bureau in New Orleans recorded a peak of 130 mph at 4:58 p.m. and a 5-minute wind of 86 mph, 20 mph above the city's previous record.³ Water driven out of Lake Pontchartrain topped the protection levees and flooded the western part of the city 1 to 8 feet deep, and it stayed three to four days until the drainage system pumped it out.³ Several buildings in the city were destroyed and nearly every building had some damage, and more than two weeks later a survey found 25,000 houses still leaking.³ The Weather Bureau put damage at about $5 million in New Orleans and more than $13 million along the middle Gulf coast.³

Along the Mississippi River below New Orleans, the storm tide was reported at 15 to 20 feet in places.³ Nearly all buildings on Grand Isle and around Barataria Bay were destroyed, only 1 of the 100 houses at Leeville was left standing, and at several places below New Orleans and on Lake Pontchartrain 90 percent of buildings were destroyed.³ The Weather Bureau counted 275 deaths.³