During the first few centuries of European settlement in North America the English Colonies were known to experience the direct and indirect impacts of tropical storms and hurricane. The collective memories of the indigenous people who originally inhabited the region warned the Europeans of the huge storms that could create massive flooding and strong, powerful and damaging winds. Then, as now, preparations still cannot stave off certain massive impacts of the tropical systems. On August 23, 1724 and event known as the "Great Gust of 1724" occurred. Almost all tobacco and much of the corn crops were destroyed by this violent tropical storm, which struck the Chesapeake Bay. Intense floods of rain and a huge gust of wind were seen on the James River. Just as recovery was underway to salvage what crops they could, a week later another tropical system inundated the region with more heavy rain and flooding leading to an almost total failure of the corn crop and the suspension of the export of corn from the region for the next 12 months.

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