in 1944 , major general leslie r. groves , jr. , director of the manhattan project , sent Sending major arthur v. peterson to brief general dwight d. eisenhower and his senior staff officers at the supreme headquarters allied expeditionary force ( shaef ) .

Many vegetable plantings , citrus groves , and cattle were submerged Motion or drowned Death as the storm Catastrophe exacerbated Cause_change_of_position_on_a_scale already high water levels and briefly threatened Warning to breach the dikes surrounding Lake Okeechobee .

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

A total of 2,700 square kilometers ( 670,000 acres ) of forest , olive groves and farmland were destroyed Destroying in the fires , which was the worst fire season on record in the past 50 years .