FLORIDA: Hurricane Homes

In September 1937, sirens screamed and gongs clanged from nine ungainly buildings in Florida’s Lake Okeechobee and Keys regions. The radio clicked out storm warnings. Citizens flung together their belongings, sped to the nearest of the nine houses. Behind reinforced concrete walls, they waited until the hurricane had blown itself out. Then, safe & sound, they went back to what was left of their homes.

That this will be a news account of the future was announced last week by Deputy WPAdministrator Aubrey Williams in a letter to Florida’s Representative J. Mark Wilcox, promising $300,000 of WPA funds for the immediate erection of nine storm barracks. During the slack hurricane season, he said, the shelters will be the scene of teaching operations, church sociables.