"The Double Whammy"
John and Arline Hanson moved into the farmhouse in the spring of 1947. Within months, two storms hit the farm in rapid succession.
1947 was already an unusually wet year. On September 17, the Category 4 Fort Lauderdale Hurricane passed directly over the farm.
Three weeks later, on October 11, Hurricane King arrived, dropping 15 more inches of rain on land that was still underwater. Up to 90% of Davie's citrus groves were lost, and the Hansons' orange grove was among them. The trees had been standing in water until their roots rotted.
A Family's Eyewitness Account
A fascinating account of the farm during the flood comes from a letter written the next day. On October 12, 1947, Mark Gibson, who lived in downtown Fort Lauderdale and was married to John's sister, Marjorie, wrote to her parents in Ohio. As he recounted, on the evening of October 11, the Gibsons had driven out to the farm, 12 miles west of Fort Lauderdale, with their three young children, Connie, 11, Midjo, 7, and Spike, 5, for dinner with "Johnny and Arlene."
John met them on the road. Planks were placed on top of a row of barrels, which John had set up after the September hurricane. This created a temporary walkway to the door, so people could reach the house. On the screened porch, which was covered by canvas rolls, a pitcher, pots and gum boots were set out to catch leaks. Outside, the water kept rising, first to the tire rims of Mark's car, and then to the running boards. John's car drowned out. John and Mark also waded to the garage to rescue the Hansons' dog, which was swimming. While there, they also set a gas generator, which Mark called a "light plant," up on blocks.
The Gibsons' drive home was an adventure of its own. Driving north on Flamingo Road, the Gibsons first noticed that the roads were "alive with snakes," rattlers and moccasins. In flooded downtown Fort Lauderdale, milk cans from a creamery floated past, and a policeman told them, "Hell, you can't even get there afoot now."
The next morning, Mark drove back to the farm to see how John was doing. He found that John had worked all night trying to keep things above water.
Mark was struck by what he saw on his drive. "Nothing but water as far as you can see... Cattle, hogs, chickens, deer, all standing on high spots in dykes." Mark's verdict on the groves was blunt: "It looks like Davie citrus is wiped out completely... Davie is done for."
What Came After
The 1947 floods changed South Florida. Senator Claude Pepper asked President Truman for help with flood control, and in 1949 Congress and the state created the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District, now the South Florida Water Management District. The canals dug in Governor Broward's time had been built to drain land for farming, not to control floods. After 1947, real flood protection began.