The Tampa Bay area suffered a direct hit by a powerful hurricane on September 25th, 1848.
The so-called Great Gale of '48 destroyed nearly every building at Fort Brooke and was the storm that created John's Pass in Pinellas County and New Pass in Sarasota.
Incredibly no one was killed, but it remains the worst hurricane on record ever to have hit Tampa.
For whom was John's Pass named?
