1900 Galveston Hurricane

Figure 1. The aftermath of the hurricane that hit Galveston, Tx. A large portion of the buildings impacted by the storm were in residential areas of Galveston which, contributed to the overall death toll of the hurricane. (Source- https://www.census.gov/history/www/homepage_archive/2015/september_2015.html)

    Throughout the progression of time there have always been natural disasters. These disasters like hurricanes are impossible to prevent however, we can learn from them to help mitigate the impact of future disasters. One of the earliest major hurricanes that there is a written record of in America is the 1900 Galveston Texas hurricane (Figure 1.). On September 8th of 1900, Galveston Texas was ravaged by a stage 4 hurricane (Little 2017). The hurricane produced wind speeds between 130-156 miles per hour, which uplifted and destroyed over 3,000 buildings in the Galveston area (NOAA 2020). The estimated death toll of the hurricane was anywhere between 6,000 and 8,000 lives (Burnett 2017) . With about ⅓ of Galveston's buildings being destroyed, the overall monetary amount in damages was around 20 million dollars which is around 700 million today (Waxman 2017).

Figure 2. The path and intensity levels at different locations of the 1900 Galveston hurricane. Galveston received the most intensity, and damage out of all the areas the hurricane impacted. (Source- https://celebrating200years.noaa.gov/magazine/galv_hurricane/galveston_1900_map.html)

    Before the creation of massive satellites which could detect the early formation of hurricanes, the primary way for meteorologists to predict if a hurricane was going to occur was word of mouth. What this means is the ships that were out in the coast would electrically telegraph any weird or abnormal winds back to the meteorologist on shore, this allowed for the scientist to make predictions on when or if possible storms would occur (Waxman 2017). This system was very inaccurate and is part of the reason that this hurricane was so detrimental. When early storm reports were recorded close to Cuba (Figure 2.) from ships, the Weather Bureau released a storm warning on September 7th, 1900 (Waxman 2017). These warnings failed to inform people in Galveston because it was only classified as a storm not a hurricane.

Figure 3. A Seawall created around Galveston in 1904, in response to the hurricane which took place in 1900. (Source-https://texasalmanac.com/topics/history/galvestons-response-hurricane-1900) The lack of communication, and the majority of buildings before the hurricane not having any reinforcements contributed heavily into the vulnerability of Galveston and the intensity of the hurricane. However, Galveston did set to learn from the mistakes and lack of preparations in the chance that another hurricane could occur. With money donated from other states, Galveston was able to build a 3 mile seawall around the most vulnerable (TSHA 2018) (Figure 3.). There were also efforts to raise the city, by putting buildings higher up they were less likely to experience damage from flooding. With all of the physical reconstruction that Galveston experienced in the wake of the hurricane, there was also city government reconstruction. The reconstruction within the city government was due to the lack of warning that the citizens of Galveston experienced which led to many losing their lives. All of these changes were made so that what happened in 1900 would never happen again. They sought to learn from the past to mitigate future hurricanes.

VIDEO

A video of Galveston showing the destruction which occurred, and the unpreparedness of the citizens who lived there which led to many deaths. The video also discusses the rebuilding and fortifications which occurred after the hurricane.

Works Cited

Burnett, J. (2017, November 30). The Tempest At Galveston: 'We Knew There Was A Storm Coming, But We Had No Idea'. Retrieved December 12, 2020, from https://www.npr.org/2017/11/30/566950355/the-tempest-at-galveston-we-knew-there-was-a-storm-coming-but-we-had-no-idea

Little, B. (2017, August 29). How the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 Became the Deadliest U.S. Natural Disaster. Retrieved December 12, 2020, from https://www.history.com/news/how-the-galveston-hurricane-of-1900-became-the-deadliest-u-s-natural-disaster 

NOAA. (2020). Hurricane FAQ. Retrieved December 12, 2020, from https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd-faq/ 

TSHA. (2018). GALVESTON'S RESPONSE TO THE HURRICANE OF 1900. Retrieved December 12, 2020, from https://texasalmanac.com/topics/history/galvestons-response-hurricane-1900 

Waxman, O. (2017, August 29). Hurricane Harvey and the Deadly Galveston Hurricane of 1900. Retrieved December 12, 2020, from https://time.com/4918607/texas-hurricane-harvey-galveston/ 

Williams, J. (2019, April 24). When storms were a surprise: A history of hurricane warnings. Retrieved December 12, 2020, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/08/16/when-storms-were-a-surprise-a-history-of-hurricane-warnings/