The Galveston Hurricane

Improved Essays
In the 1890’s Galveston was one of the biggest cities the United States and also known as, “The New York of the Gulf”, and was on its way to becoming one the most important ports in the country. Everything was well on its way to continue rise up and up until one day it all came crashing down. This was the day of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, the most deadly hurricane to ever hit.
Despite having a measly area of only 64.02 miles, Galveston was a booming city with a whopping 37,000 residents living there. Reaching a maximum elevation of 8.7 feet, most of Galveston was even to sea level or right above it. Even with being such a small land mass, Galveston was well on its way to becoming one of the most important ports in the United States.
…show more content…
The flooding wasn’t unusual, though, the city was only a little above sea level and it flooded like that normally. Though, off the coast some pretty heavy swells began to pop up but the mostly blue sky suggested that nothing out of the ordinary was going to happen. Some residents of Galveston hinted there was a storm brewing in the ocean, but they just ignored the signs because they had handled many other storms. But, Galveston had never seen any hurricane or storm like this before. By mid-morning rain clouds covered the sky and the winds speed started to pick up, and by mid-afternoon the hurricane hit and only intensified as the darkness of the storm descended. The residents were warned to evacuate, but many still waited until it was too late to seek shelter or leave the …show more content…
The seawalls construction began on October 27, 1902 and was completed on July 29, 1904. When it was completed, the seawall was six miles long and stood seventeen feet above average low tide. The wall has been extended to 10 miles since its construction. At the same time, inside the city, sand brought in from Galveston’s ship channel was used to raise the grade (elevation) of Galveston. The buildings were lifted on multiple jacks and sand would be pumped beneath them. One of the biggest buildings that they raised was a 3,000 ton church. Although Galveston eventually did rebuild itself, it never regained the title of being the premier shipping port, instead that spot was overtaken by Houston, Texas.
In all, the Galveston hurricane of 1900 was one of the most deadly hurricanes to ever hit the United States. Not only because of the mass destruction and huge cost it left, but also because of the traumatizing scenes that left people scarred with those events for the rest of their

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Isaac Cline, along with everyone else in the weather bureau, were the reason that there were so many deaths in the 1900 hurricane that hit Galveston. The Law of Storms was referred to repeatedly throughout the book stating that storms would never enter the gulf. This thought was relied on too heavily and was pushed on the civilians as truth leading the the whole hearted belief that they were safe. “...but said his office had received no notice of anything of the kind.” Dr. Young said about the map maker mapping the weather across the country.…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Deadly Hurricane Dbq

    • 344 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In September 1938, one America’s most deadly hurricanes raced through New England. There were a couple of conditions that made the Hurricane of ‘38 so severe. Like the weather of the New England, and the 20ft storm surge. These conditions made the hurricane much more damaging. Some of the damage sustained from the hurricane would include “entire communities wiped off the face of the Earth.”…

    • 344 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Isaac's Storm Book Report

    • 1126 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Ending with details of a storm that hit Indianola (only 3 hours from Galveston) that killed 176 people. Which spurred Galveston residents into researching and it was determined (at least by looking at a map) that they were more susceptible than Indianola to destruction by natural water disaster. After that revelation 30 prominent Galveston residents collectively came together as the Progressive Association, and proposed a seawall be built. The state even authorized a bond for it, but since it had been a few months, attitudes toward it changed and no wall was built. It is also reiterated that any people whom were still uncomfortable about not having a wall, were eased by Clines announcement about the impossibility of a hurricane.…

    • 1126 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Hurricane Rita was heading straight for Houston. Cronin and his wife packed up their kids and left. After six hours and fifty miles, they reached a scene that resembled an apocalypse: stores were picked clean of their goods, trash was everywhere, and families were sleeping not far from the road. Then, Cronin remembered that many of these people had guns, and he had children and a couple of thousand dollars with nothing to protect himself from the possibility of a dangerous person looking to steal. After his wife wouldn’t let him leave the car, Justin decided to turn around and head straight where the hurricane was predicted to hit.…

    • 1274 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Indianola Geography

    • 1007 Words
    • 5 Pages

    This mistake cost the whole town. After the first hurricane in 1875 townspeople tried to go and rebuild their lives and shops but it was not as successful. Eleven years later in 1886, the town was completely destroyed by a hurricane and there was no way to restore the…

    • 1007 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After the repair crew was finally done. The city looked the clean but it will never be the same as it used to be. Most of the Galveston people that survived are scared for life and will never talk about that day. Now Galveston is fully recovered and has grown to a population of 48,733 people.…

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The aftermath of the Galveston Hurricane resulted in the loss of thousands of inhabitants of Galveston (Baughman 1), property damage of more than seven hundred million dollars (Daley 3), and the first Commission Government in the United States to manage the cleanup of the destruction that had been done (Daley 3). However, Isaac Cline, a meteorologist at the Weather Bureau station in Galveston, Texas (Shoop10), was overly confident and strongly believed that it was impossible for a hurricane to affect the city terribly. Had Isaac Cline notified the city of Galveston on the hurricane coming and took the threats seriously, Galveston's aftermath of the hurricane would have been better than it came out to be. Rather than to take the serious threat to their city seriously, he let his overconfidence and arrogance gets the best of him. In this event in history, it's easy to notice how pride and arrogance can lead to one's downfall.…

    • 1904 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Great Galveston Hurricane

    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Great Galveston Hurricane A hurricane is a storm that forms over warm ocean waters. At this point, the storm is called a tropical despression storm. If wind speed reaches 39 miles per hour or greater, the storm is then classified as a tropical storm. If wind speeds continue to increase to 74 miles per hour, the tropical storm then changes classifications to be called a hurricane.…

    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Texas Hurricane Galveston

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Galveston is a 29 mile strip of land, that two miles off the coast of Texas. On September 8, 1900 a category 4 hurricane struck Galveston, Texas, devastating a lot of home, and business (History). The hurricane was first thought to be a tropical storm in the Atlantic Ocean, because it had statues of a tropical storm for five days. Galveston was the most populated city in Texas before the hurricane hit it (Hurricanescience).…

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    What Was Galveston's Life

    • 255 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Galveston had become wealthy throughout the years some people even called it paradise. They thought that Galveston was indestructible and that where they were located there wouldn’t be hurricanes, but they were terribly wrong. September 8, 1900 the waves rose and the people of Galveston ran towards the shore. The people thought that this was just unique and they wanted to check it out. The water started rising and people were running for high ground.…

    • 255 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Harvey wasn’t thought to be as dangerous as it was due to the category 4 rating and the low wind speed, it was not expected to flood and cause massive damage in that regard due to the fact that Texas is actually above sea level unlike New Orleans in Louisiana. The flooding had somewhere to go despite there being almost no flood resistance in Houston. In New Orleans, the city is below sea level so the area that it is in really should be underwater. The systems that are designed to keep water out of the city were not built to code and were not taken seriously, the improper construction of the levees made it very easy for the city to flood and cause massive damage to property. The boats in the canals broke loose and would ride on top of the waves acting like battering rams against buildings causing even more damage to structures.…

    • 912 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    One of the main reasons it Was so devastating was because it was a big surprize, There were no warnings on the weather station and the fact that it was a hurricane was not even mentioned! Hurricanes don't usually go up the east coast so they were not worried. It came in hard, and fast. It was moving at 50 mph. They thought it would go out to sea but it strengthened , and went up the East coast.…

    • 79 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hurricane Katrina Essay

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Hurricanes are not uncommon among the coastal regions. Atmospheric and sea-surface conditions were conducted to cyclone’s rapid transformation and resulted in what is known as Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was tearing apart the Gulf of Mexico. It was a Category 5 hurricane and was predicted to create several landfalls within the affected area. The wind was moving in a pattern causing a storm surge toward the city like a high tide.…

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Most recently in August of this year, 2017, Hurricane Harvey devastated the coastal cities of South Texas from Port Aransas to the Houston/Galveston area. Many people lost their homes, vehicles and some lost their lives. Harvey started as a tropical storm that was slowly making its way through the Gulf until just hours prior to making landfall at a Category four hurricane. Many were taken by surprise when the storm became as threatening as it did, and many were ill prepared in regards to food, water and shelter. This resulted in a shortage of groceries, gasoline and water around the towns nearing the Gulf, including the city of Victoria.…

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The end of August 2005 is a period of time that many along the entire Gulf Coast area will never forget. Hurricane Katrina, even ten years later, is one of the most catastrophic natural disasters in United States history. Despite the awareness and preparation that is afforded when anticipating a hurricane, the Gulf Coast was severely devastated when the storm made landfall on August 29, 2005. Although there was widespread destruction, the region most decimated by the hurricane was New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina not only left the entire city underwater, it left thousands of people homeless, displaced, or dead.…

    • 1042 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays