It acquired peak winds of 140 mph (220 km/h) and passed over portions of the Bahamas on September 3, including Eleuthera and Harbour Island, causing severe damage to crops, buildings, and infrastructure.

In Florida, the strong winds of the cyclone blew buildings off their foundations, and numerous trees were prostrated in citrus groves.

The Treasure Coast region received the most extensive destruction, and Stuart, Jupiter, and Fort Pierce were heavily damaged.

Inland, the cyclone weakened rapidly but produced prodigious amounts of rain, causing a dam to collapse near Tampa.

On August 31, a nearby ship reported gale-force winds, which indicated that a tropical storm had developed to the east-northeast of the Lesser Antilles.

Early on September 2, a ship called the Gulfwing reported a barometric pressure of 978 mb (28.9 inHg), which confirmed that the storm attained hurricane status.

[4][6] After moving through the northern Bahamas, the hurricane weakened slightly before making landfall at Jupiter, Florida, at 05:00 UTC on September 4.

A station there reported a pressure of 27.98 inHg (948 mb) during a 40-minute period of the eye's passage; this suggested a landfall strength of 125 mph (205 km/h).

A few hours later while continuing to the northwest, it made another landfall near Rosewood—a ghost town in Levy County, east of Cedar Key—with winds of about 65 mph (100 km/h).

[2] On September 2, a fleet of eight aircraft evacuated all white residents from West End, Grand Bahama, to Daytona Beach, Florida.

Heavy damage occurred on Harbour Island, including to several roofs, the walls of government buildings, and the water system.

Collectively between North Point, James Cistern, and Gregory Town on Eleuthera, the storm destroyed 55 houses and damaged many others.

On Grand Bahama, where a 9-to-12-foot-high (2.7 to 3.7 m) storm surge was reported, half of the houses were destroyed, as were 13 boats and two planes, and most docks were wrecked.

[5] When the storm moved ashore in Florida, winds reached an estimated 125 mph (200 km/h) in Jupiter; these occurred after the eye passed.

[4][14] In West Palm Beach, anemometers measured at least 80-mile-per-hour (130 km/h) winds with gusts to 100 mph (160 km/h); barometers ranged from 28.64 to 28.78 inHg (970 to 975 mb).

Several coconut and royal palms that withstood the 1928 hurricane snapped, littering streets with broken trunks.

[26] As in Lake Worth, officials in West Palm Beach credited preparations and stringent building codes with reducing overall damage.

Winter estates and hotels on Palm Beach generally sustained little material damage, except to vegetation, and county properties went largely unscathed.

A railcar from West Palm Beach, blown north 30 mi (48 km), crashed into the platform, leaving a mass of wreckage that required several hours' manpower for removal.

Winter estates on the island, however, were better built and little damaged,[23] though downed Australian pines, other trees, and electrical wires left coastal roadways essentially impassable.

A store sustained damage to such a degree that it was unusable, and a riverfront two-story home was leveled; on the latter's grounds all palm trees were downed.

Citrus trees, mainly grapefruit and orange, were prostrated, and the St. Lucie River overflowed its banks, submersing several properties.

[27] High rainfall caused flooding across Florida, notably near Tampa where waters reached 9 ft (2.7 m) deep.

Workers attempted to save the dam with sandbags, and after the break, most residents in the area were warned of the approaching flood.

[21] Farmers in Texas, also affected by a major hurricane, requested growers in Florida wait 15 days so they could sell their citrus crop that fell.