The 1916 Gulf Coast hurricane was a destructive tropical cyclone that struck the central Gulf Coast of the United States in early July 1916. It generated the highest storm surge on record in Mobile, Alabama, wrought widespread havoc on shipping, and dropped torrential rainfall exceeding 2 ft (0.6 m). The second tropical cyclone, first hurricane, and first major hurricane – Category 3 or stronger on the modern-day Saffir–Simpson scale – of the highly active 1916 Atlantic hurricane season, the system originated in the southwestern Caribbean Sea on June 28 and moved generally toward the north-northwest. Crossing the Yucatán Channel on July 3 as a strengthening hurricane and brushing Cuba with gusty winds, the cyclone reached its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (195 km/h