The center of category 3 Hurricane Jeanne reached the Florida east coast near Sewall's Point in Martin County shortly after midnight on September 26th. Remarkably, this is in the same location where Hurricane Frances came ashore on September 5th.
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Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS MLB wrote it up.
The center of category 3 Hurricane Jeanne reached the Florida east coast near Sewall's Point in Martin County shortly after midnight on September 26th. Remarkably, this is in the same location where Hurricane Frances came ashore on September 5th. Jeanne was moving to the west northwest at 12 mph and maintained hurricane strength as it crossed most of the Florida Peninsula. Jeanne was downgraded to a tropical storm in the afternoon of September 26th when it was about 40 miles northeast of Tampa Bay. In Volusia County, hurricane force wind gusts began with the rain bands on the north side of Jeanne as they moved on shore. The county, already battered by Hurricane Frances suffered extensive additional damage. Fresh water flooding from local heavy rain, and Flooding of the St. Johns River affected more than 200 residences and business properties. Total damage estimates were near $60 million. Hurricane winds damaged or destroyed thousands of homes and businesses. Hundreds of thousands of residences were with out power. Most official NWS surface wind equipment failed prior to the max wind of the storm when power was knocked out. The highest recorded wind was only 55 knots (63 mph), but wind damage suggest numerous gusts in excess of hurricane strength. The lowest recorded pressure was 993.6 mb. In Brevard County, the strongest winds swept across the coast south of Cape Canaveral and the southern coastal communities. Grant, Micco and the south part of Palm Bay were hit much harder than the northern locations. County wide damages were reported at $320 million. Especially hard hit was the mobile home community of Barefoot Bay. A Palm Bay man drowned when his pickup truck ran off a road into a deep flooded ditch. Highest wind gusts in the county were, 79 knots (91 mph) at the NWS Melbourne office. Based on radar information, it is estimated that wind gusts over 100 kts (115 mph) swept across the southern coastal areas. The lowest recorded pressure for the storm was 986.8 mb at Melbourne. Total damage estimates for the county were near $320 million. Indian River County was hit hard by Jeanne being to the right of the land falling eye. 8,300 residences were damaged or destroyed and over 41,000 residences were damaged. Total wind damage for the county was over $2 billion. Highest wind gusts in the county were, 106 knots (122 mph) at Vero Beach and 101 knots (116 mph) at Sebastian. The lowest recorded pressure for the county was 965.5 mb at Vero Beach. The north part of the hurricane eye passed over St. Lucie County producing $1.2 billion in wind damage. The marinas along Ft. Pierce inlet were hit destroying dozens of boats. A 34 year old man was electrocuted when his truck ran into a power line. Thousands of homes and business were damaged and destroyed by the wind. Especially hard hit were the dozens of mobile home communities. Highest wind gusts in the county were, 111 knots (128 mph) from a private residence just north of Ft. Pierce inlet. The lowest recorded pressure for the county was 952.9 mb at Ft. Pierce. The eye of Hurricane Jeanne passed over the community of Sewell' Point in Martin County. Over 180 residences were destroyed with about 4000 residences either damaged or destroyed. The highest wind speed recorded was 91 kts (105 mph) in Jensen Beach. No pressure data was recorded for Martin County. Severe beach erosion occurred compounding the damage from Hurricane Frances just 3 weeks earlier.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Melbourne, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 24, 7:50 PM EST, 5 hours 50 minutes earlier.
EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL 850 PM EDT FRI SEP 24 2004 ...HURRICANE WARNING FOR ALL OF THE EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA COAST... ...INCREASING CHANCE OF HURRICANE FORCE WINDS INLAND... .DISCUSSION...THE LARGE EYE OF HURRICANE JEANNE IS CURRENTLY ABOUT 340 MILES EAST OF THE FLORIDA EAST COAST. SATELLITE LOOP FOR THE PAST 12 HOURS CONTINUES TO SHOW A WESTWARD MOTION AT 12 MPH. LOCAL WEATHER CONTINUES ON THE DRY SIDE WITH GUSTY NORTH WINDS STILL ALLOWING FOR SOME UPPER 60S DEW POINTS IN A FEW SPOTS. DO NOT SEE A LOT OF OUTER RAINBAND ACTIVITY BUT WILL LEAVE A SMALL COASTAL POP IN THE FORECAST OVERNIGHT. THE RATHER BENIGN CONDITIONS WILL GO DOWNHILL IN A HURRY STARTING TOMORROW AS HURRICANE JEANNE APPROACHES. WINDS WILL INCREASE STEADILY AND MORE OUTER RAINBANDS WILL MOVE QUICKLY THROUGH THE AREA. HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO START LATE SAT NIGHT IN THE SOUTH AND SPREAD NORTH THROUGH SUNDAY. COULD MAKE SOME MINOR ZONE FORECAST CHANGES TO UPDATE THE WIND GUSTS SAT NIGHT/SUNDAY...BUT HAVE ALREADY UPDATED THE POINT FORECAST MATRICES WHICH ARE DESIGNED TO PROVIDE MORE DETAIL. (USERS SHOULD NOTE THAT THE POINT FORECAST HAS WIND CAPS BUILT IN DUE TO THE INHERENT TRACK UNCERTAINTIES). && .MARINE...WINDS AND SEAS WILL INCREASE OVERNIGHT AS GRADIENT TIGHTENS BETWEEN JEANNE AND THE HIGH ALONG THE MID ATLANTIC. NO CHANGES TO THIS FORECAST EITHER. && .MLB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... HURRICANE WARNING FLAGLER BEACH TO JUPITER INLET. INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING ALL INTERIOR COUNTIES. FLOOD WATCH ALL OF EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA SATURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. RIVER FLOOD WARNING MIDDLE SAINT JOHNS RIVER BASIN. && LASCODY
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL 600 AM EDT FRI SEP 24 2004 AMZ550-555-570-575-FLZ041-044>047-053-054-058-059-064-141-144-147- 261000- COASTAL VOLUSIA-COCOA BEACH TO JUPITER INLET 20 NM TO 60 NM OFFSHORE- COCOA BEACH TO JUPITER INLET OUT TO 20 NM- FLAGLER BEACH TO COCOA BEACH 20 NM TO 60 NM OFFSHORE- FLAGLER BEACH TO COCOA BEACH OUT TO 20 NM-INDIAN RIVER- INLAND VOLUSIA-MARTIN-NORTHERN BREVARD-NORTHERN LAKE-OKEECHOBEE- ORANGE-OSCEOLA-SEMINOLE-SOUTHERN BREVARD-SOUTHERN LAKE-ST. LUCIE- 600 AM EDT FRI SEP 24 2004 HAZARDS TO EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA ASSOCIATED WITH HURRICANE JEANNE CAN BE FOUND IN THE LATEST HURRICANE LOCAL STATEMENT ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MELBOURNE. VOLKMER
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
5 hurricane (typhoon). Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, September 2004The 2004 hurricane season
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5424597, 5424593, 5424594, 5424595, 5424596.