18. The Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900
The deadliest natural disaster of American history was the Galveston hurricane of 1900, a storm of such intensity that it swept from Galveston, Texas, to eastern Canada. The storm struck the island of Galveston and covered it with a storm surge which placed the island under more than 12 feet of water. Landfall took place on September 9, and by the following day the formerly Category 4 storm had dropped in strength to a Category 1. Four days later the storm, which strengthened again as it traveled across the American Midwest to New England, appeared over the Newfoundland region of Canada, where it continued to sow death and destruction. Almost three hundred died in Canada from the storm, which though no longer a hurricane when it arrived there remained a killer.
The Galveston Hurricane killed an estimated 6 to 12 thousand people in the Caribbean, United States, and Canada. As many as eight thousand were killed in the town of Galveston alone, which found itself inundated with water in a matter of minutes. Galveston was a major center of trade and commerce prior to the storm, a status which it never recovered as trade shifted to Houston. Surviving buildings in Galveston were raised in elevation using the technique of pumping sand beneath their foundations. The entire city was effectively raised more than ten feet, some buildings as much as seventeen feet. The city also built a 17 foot seawall to protect the resurrected community. In 1915 another hurricane struck the island, and though 53 citizens of the town were killed, the number of dead was miniscule compared to the disaster of 1900.
Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
“A Time of Terror”. Allan W. Eckert. 1965
“Fatal heatwave twenty years ago changed Chicago’s emergency response”. Bonnie Miller Rubin and Jeremy Gorner, The Chicago Tribune. July 15, 2015
“Key West 1919” Sun-Sentinel. August 21, 2001. Online
“Sea Islands Hurricane”. Victoriana Magazine, 1996. Online
“Remembering the San Ciriaco Hurricane of 1899”. Carolina Country Magazine. August, 2014