This Day in Texas History – The Galveston Hurricane

[jerp]

I’m sure everyone is familiar with this story so I will just summarize. On this day in 1900 the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history hit the Texas coast, killing at least 6,000 people. Reliable estimates of the victims are difficult to make – some believe that as many as 12,000 perished. At the time there was no warning system in place for hurricanes, it was not until 1908 that ships began radioing the mainland about approaching storms. It was Friday afternoon when the residents of Galveston first got an indication that a storm was coming. The storm hit Galveston on Saturday, September 8th with sustained winds of at least 115 mph. The town’s wind gauge blew away so the winds could have been higher. The Cat 4 hurricane brought an enormous storm surge 15 feet high that covered nearly the entire island. Buildings crumbled and the wind ripped the roofs off of every building in town. For several weeks crews patrolled the beaches gathering bodies which were burned in giant funeral pyres in an attempt to stop the spread of disease. Two years later construction began on a massive sea wall that was 16 feet thick and 17 feet high. When a comparable storm hit Galveston in 1915 only 8 people died.
My personal favorite among the books written about the hurricane is “Isaac’s Storm” by Erik Larson http://www.amazon.com/Isaacs-Storm-D...3959199&sr=8-1

Here are a couple of picture galleries: http://www.1900storm.com/photographs/index.lasso

http://www.gthcenter.org/exhibits/storms/1900/photosstorm/index.html

[bscooten1974]

nice write up

[SKLOSS]

I read Isaac's Storm last fall. Good read. Once you get into the storm you can't set it down.