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By 1926, Miami's population surpassed 100,000 and the U.S. Weather Bureau had already established its first-order office downtown in 1911 under forecaster Richard Gray. Without satellites or hurricane-hunting aircraft, forecasts depended heavily on ship reports and information sent from Washington, D.C. On September 18, at around 6:30 a.m., the Great Miami Hurricane roared ashore as a Category 4 storm. Its eye passed directly over downtown, Coconut Grove, and South Miami. Many residents, unfamil