1932 natural disasters

The 1932 Cuba hurricane, known also as the Hurricane of Santa Cruz del Sur or the 1932 Camagüey hurricane, was the deadliest and one of the most intense tropical cyclones on record to have made landfall in Cuba. It is the only Category 5 Atlantic hurricane ever recorded in November. The cyclone had a path through the Caribbean Sea atypical to most hurricanes developing late in the Atlantic hurricane season. The storm's strong winds, storm surge, and rain devastated an extensive portion of central and eastern Cuba, where the storm was considered the worst natural disaster of the 20th century. Though the effects from the hurricane were concentrated primarily on Cuba, significant effects were also felt in the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas, with lesser effects felt elsewhere.

The 1932 San Ciprián hurricane was one of the strongest tropical cyclones in the history of Puerto Rico. The center of the storm traversed the island on an east-to-west path in late September 1932, killing 272 people and inflicting at least $35 million in damage. Winds in San Juan, Puerto Rico, were estimated to have reached at least 120 mph (190 km/h), causing extensive destruction. The storm's origins can be traced back to at least September 25, 1932, when it was a tropical storm east of the Windward Islands. Moving west as a compact tropical cyclone, it rapidly intensified as it moved across the Virgin Islands the following day before ultimately making landfall on September 27 in Ceiba, Puerto Rico, at a peak intensity equivalent to that of a Category 4 hurricane on the modern Saffir–Simpson scale. The hurricane diminished for the remainder of its duration, leaving Puerto Rico and brushing the southern coast of Hispaniola. The cyclone passed near Jamaica on September 29 and moved ashore British Honduras on October 1 as a tropical storm, dissipating the next day over southeastern Mexico.