Still moving westward, the system reached Category 4 intensity before striking Guadeloupe on September 12, where it brought great destruction and resulted in 1,200 deaths.

About six hours later, the system made landfall in Puerto Rico; it remains the only tropical cyclone on record to strike the island at Category 5 intensity.

The storm surge caused water to pour out of the southern edge of the lake, flooding hundreds of square miles to depths as great as 20 feet (6.1 m).

Numerous houses and buildings were swept away in the cities of Belle Glade, Canal Point, Chosen, Pahokee, and South Bay, Florida.

It curved north-northeast and briefly emerged into the Atlantic on September 18, but soon made another landfall near Edisto Island, South Carolina, with winds of 85 mph (137 km/h).

However, lack of observations for several days prevented the system from being classified in real time as it moved generally westward across the Atlantic Ocean.

[3] On September 10, the S.S. Commack first observed the storm about 900 mi (1,450 km) to the east of Guadeloupe, which at the time was the most easterly report of a tropical cyclone ever received through ship's radio.

[5] Between 17:30 and 18:30 UTC on September 12, the hurricane's eye moved over Guadeloupe with a barometric pressure of 940 mb (28 inHg), suggesting maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (230 km/h), or Category 4 intensity on the Saffir–Simpson scale.

On September 13, the 15 mi (24 km) eye crossed Puerto Rico in eight hours from the southeast to the northwest, moving ashore near Guayama and exiting between Aguadilla and Isabela.

[7] However, at 00:00 UTC on September 17, the large hurricane made landfall in southeastern Florida near West Palm Beach, with estimated winds of 145 mph (233 km/h).

Later that day, the hurricane restrengthened slightly over open waters, making a second United States landfall near Edisto Island, South Carolina, at 19:00 UTC with winds of 85 mph (137 km/h).

On September 19, the storm transitioned into an extratropical cyclone, although it restrengthened slightly to hurricane strength, due to baroclinic forcing caused by a frontal system.

Guadeloupe received a direct hit from the storm, apparently with little warning; the death toll there was 1,200,[11] and damage reports relayed through Paris indicated "great destruction" on the island.

Effective preparation is credited for the relatively low death toll of 312, and not a single ship was lost at sea in the vicinity of Puerto Rico.

[13] According to the San Juan National Weather Service office, the storm was "up to this time the greatest and more [sic] intense and destructive hurricane of record in Puerto Rico.

According to a ship report in the region, "The force of the wind ... could only be judged by the noise made by the storm, which reminded me of the New York subway going full speed passing switches."

The lowest pressure north of Lake Okeechobee was 966 mbar (28.5 inHg) in Bartow, and along the west coast, winds reached 31 mph (50 km/h) in Tampa.

At the Cloister Inn, windows were shattered and the roof was damaged; across the street, 32 freight cars belonging to a train along the Florida East Coast Railway were tossed by the wind into a nearby ditch.

[25] The strongest winds in the eyewall affected northern Palm Beach County, particularly the vicinity of Jupiter as the eye made landfall farther south.

Residents had been warned to evacuate the low ground earlier in the day, but after the hurricane did not arrive on schedule, many thought it had missed and returned to their homes.

In the weeks prior to the storm, heavy rainfall had caused the lake to rise 3 ft (0.91 m) between August 10 and September 10 and filled nearby canals and ditches.

Along the southwestern shore of Lake Okeechobee, the towns of Clewiston and Moore Haven were both flooded, but most houses suffered more damage due to strong winds.

[30] On Ritta Island, a number of persons who had successfully climbed to the roof of their houses to escape floodwaters were struck by trees or received fatal bites from water moccasins.

[25] In the interior areas of Central and North Florida, effects were mainly confined to agricultural losses, particularly citrus, though wind damage occurred to structures.

[51] The Miami Red Cross Citizens Relief Committee, which was established to provide aid for victims of the storm, transported "hundreds of loaves of bread, gallons of milk, pounds of coffee and sugar, blankets, cots, and medical supplies."

[52] In Florida, although the hurricane's destruction affected everything in its path, the death toll was by far the highest and the aftermath the worst in the economically poor areas in the low-lying ground near Lake Okeechobee, such as the towns of Belle Glade, Chosen, Pahokee, South Bay, and Bean City.

[54] In contrast, the bodies of black victims were burned in funeral pyres or thrown into mass burial sites such as the ones in West Palm Beach and Port Mayaca.

[53] African-American writer Zora Neale Hurston explored the effects of the hurricane on black migrant workers in her seminal 1937 novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God.

[58] After a personal inspection of the area by President Herbert Hoover, the Corps of Engineers drafted a plan to provide for the construction of floodway channels, control gates, and major levees along the shores of Lake Okeechobee.

A long-term system was designed for the purpose of flood control, water conservation, prevention of saltwater intrusion, and preservation of fish and wildlife populations.