The Deadliest Natural Disaster In U.S. History Occurred 121 Years Ago This Month In Galveston, Texas
By Katie Lawrence|Published September 09, 2021
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Katie Lawrence
Author
Katie Lawrence is a Southeast Texas native who graduated 18th in her high school class with a GPA of 4.25. She attended college in the Houston area and began writing for OnlyInYourState in 2015.
Today, Katie writes, edits, and performs several other tasks for OnlyInYourState and has never been more passionate about a job before. Outside of work, you can likely find her curled up on with a hot cup of coffee, practicing yoga, baking, or exploring the beautiful Lone Star State (in particular, the vast and mystical West Texas desert).
On the fateful day of September 8, 1900, the coastal city of Galveston, Texas would suffer tragedy unlike anything the nation had ever seen. A powerful Category 4 hurricane made landfall near the island, and the residents were wholly unprepared for it. It’s estimated that between 6,000 and 12,000 people died as a direct result of the storm, and each year, and recounting the disaster helps keep the memories of the victims alive.
The deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history, the Great Galveston hurricane - locally known as the "1900 Storm" - made landfall on September 8, 1900, as a powerful Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 145 miles per hour.
Between 6,000 and 12,000 people were killed; most of the fatalities occurred after eight to 12 feet of storm surge overwhelmed the coastline.
Weather forecasting did exist in the early 20th century, but tense relations between the U.S. and Cuba following the Spanish-American War prevented telegraphs from the Belen Observatory in Havana - one of the most advanced meteorological institutions in the world at the time - from reaching the city.
The central office of the Weather Bureau (the former name for the National Weather Service) issued a hurricane warning on September 6, but it was confined to Florida, as U.S. forecasters believed the storm was on a northeastward trajectory. A generic "storm warning," which is not as severe as a hurricane warning, was in effect for the Carolinas and areas from Pensacola, Florida to New Orleans - again, with Texas not even considered as a possibility.
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On the morning of September 8, the weather was unremarkable at best, with partly cloudy skies that were nothing out of the ordinary for a late summer day.
Few residents evacuated, and the window of opportunity to escape quickly began narrowing as the afternoon wore on. The hurricane officially made landfall at around 8 p.m. CST, ravaging the city with punishing winds and torrential rain.
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Not a single structure in the entire city was spared, with the storm destroying about 7,000 buildings overall.
Tourism was virtually nonexistent, and developers instead set their sights on Houston for fear that Galveston would become a ghost town. Fortunately, those fears turned out to be unfounded - although Houston was favored for shipping and manufacturing, Galveston saw a major economic boom during Prohibition, when criminal activities such as gambling and bootlegging were rampant. These enterprises opened the door for Galveston to become the entertainment-based, resort community we know it as in the modern era.
The hurricane inflicted about $34 million worth of damage across the nation, with $30 million of that gargantuan sum in Galveston alone.
For context, a similar storm in today's economy would cost over $100 billion.
In an effort to prevent any future storms from causing destruction similar to that of the 1900 hurricane, the city of Galveston began erecting a seawall in 1902.
The project was completed in 1963, stretching more than 10 miles down the island's coastline.
Today, visitors to Galveston can pay homage to storm victims at the Place of Remembrance statue, a memorial to those who lost their lives in the deluge.
Dedicated in 2000, the statue depicts a family - a father, mother, and child - holding onto one another as the storm rages on all around them.
Did you know about the Great Galveston hurricane? What’s the most destructive hurricane you’ve personally lived through, if any? Tell us in the comments section, and check out our previous article to see the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, which is tied with Hurricane Katrina for being the costliest Atlantic hurricane in history.
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