America's worst natural disaster occured in the opening year of the 20th century. August 27, 1900 a tropical storm formed in the central Atlantic. It moved into the Carribbean and into the Gulf but on September 8 it made land fall in Galveston, Texas. The hurricane strengthened rapidly and the local meteorologist in charge of the Galveston National Weather Service office, Dr. Issac Cline, predicted that the entire city would be awash in storm surge and that a heavy loss of life would occur. You could say that this was the first hurricane to make a direct hit on a major U.S. city. Back in 1900, Galveston was the largest city in Texas. Its position on the Gulf made it a strategic port for shipping world wide. Dr. Cline rode on horseback all up along the beach advising people that the storm would be a monster. 48 people took refuge in his home during the storm. As the storm moved in, the water level rose quick and the winds fiercely increased. The hurricane struck with catagory 3 force with winds up to 120 mph and storm surge exceeding 20 feet well enough water to cover the entire Galveston Island. 32 of the 48 people who took shelter at Dr. Cline's house drowned including his wife. In all at least 6,000 people died in the hurricane but unofficially that number is as high as 12,000 which makes it not only the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history but the 2nd deadliest hurricane ever anywhere in the world! It was one of the strongest hurricanes to hit the U.S. the 7th most strongest with a barometric pressure reading at land fall of an incredible 27.49 inches! Hugo in 1989 came in with 27.58 inches and Andrew in 1992 with 27.23. The strongest hurricane was in 1935 with a 26.35 inch pressure reading! But a hurricane of the magnitude of the 1900 storm that hit Galveston causes extensive damage. After the storm, the city was never the same. Fearing that it could happen again, most of the city moved inland 50 miles to start over in a burgening oil industry in a city called Houston. Those who remained on the island and survived rebuilt but it was slow. The lasting legacy from that 1900 hurricane was that a 17 foot high, 3 mile wide seawall was built to protect the downtown Galveston area from future storm surges. All total, the storm caused 707 million dollars in damage. It was the coastliest storm for 15 years in the United States before yet another hurricane caused more dollar amounts of damage in 1915 in......Galveston. Marcus Smith, MRS Weather.National Weather Report
The Weather Century
