Galveston Hurricane of 1900 “The Great Storm” September 8, 1900

“Within the last two or three years, people have begun to think that the islands and peninsulas along the Texas and Louisiana Coast are unsafe for human abiding places. And Galveston Island is but a waif of the ocean, liable at any moment of being engulfed and submerged by the self-same power that gave it form.” -- Braman's Information About Texas, 1858

Galveston Island Galveston Island is a barrier island along the Texas coast in the Gulf of Mexico Barrier Island: an island that protects the coast from the damaging effects of tides Hurricanes: The National Weather Service classifies a hurricane as a tropical storm with sustained winds of at least 74 miles per hour

Importance of Galveston A major center of commerce, with a population of 40,000 at the turn of the 20th century, Galveston was the most important seaport in Texas and poised for greatness in the new century. One of the wealthiest cities per capita (income per person) in the U.S. and in TX All major railroads served Galveston. In 1899-1900, the city handled 67% of the Texas cotton crop, valued at over seventy million dollars,. Was going to become the “New York City” of the South.

Galveston…Home to Many Texas Firsts First electric lighting in Texas First organized baseball game (1867) – Houston Stonewalls 35 / Galveston Robert E. Lee’s 2 First customs house (1825) First post office (1836) First law firm west of the Mississippi River (1846) First insurance company (1854) First use of telegraph to send news dispatches (1854) First private bank (1854) First gas lights (1856) First real estate firm (1857) First opera house (1870) First cotton exchange (1872) First telephone call in Texas (1878) First black high school (1885) First medical college (1886) First school for nurses (1894) First golf course (1898) First country club (1898)

Isaac Cline Headed the Weather Bureau in Galveston at the time of the 1900 hurricane. Cline was the second meteorologist to provide reliable forecasts of freezing weather. He also provided some of the first available flood warnings on the Colorado and Brazos rivers. However, in 1891, he wrote an article in the Galveston Daily News in which he gave his official meteorological opinion that the thought of a hurricane ever doing any serious harm to Galveston was "a crazy idea". Many residents had called for a seawall to protect the city after hurricanes destroyed nearby Indianola in 1875 and 1886, but Cline's statement helped to prevent the seawall’s construction. His reputation and role in the 1900 storm is a controversial one Cline’s family shortly before the storm

The 1900 Storm is still considered to be the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history…nearly 8,000 residents of Galveston died that night.

Galveston Hurricane - September 8, 1900 Galveston Island was at sea level. The highest point in the city was 8-9 feet above sea level at the time. When the storm reached Galveston, winds climbed in speed to more than 140 miles per hour. The high winds ripped metal and wood from buildings and swirled them through the air like deadly missiles. Many people were cut down as they ran for safety. Winds created storm surges and rogue waves 15-20 feet high at landfall. The surge knocked buildings off their foundations sending them flying with families still inside Over 3,600 homes were destroyed and a wall of debris faced the ocean. The few buildings which survived, mostly solidly built mansions and houses along the Strand District, are today maintained as tourist attractions.

Storm Surge Clips http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxX2q69rEmA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNGe-RrPuBw

Damage to Galveston Almost 8,000 people died in Galveston (1/6 of the population) Damages amounted to $30 million dollars in damage ($700 million today). The Galveston Hurricane reigns today as the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Galveston fell behind as a leading port city and the city of Houston became the New York City of the South and would soon be in the middle of an oil boom.

As severe as the damage to the city's buildings was, the human toll was even greater… Most had drowned or been crushed as the waves pounded the debris that had been their homes hours earlier. Many survived the storm itself but died after several days being trapped under the wreckage of the city, with rescuers unable to reach them. The rescuers could hear the screams of the survivors as they walked on the debris trying to rescue those they could. A further 30,000 were left homeless. The dead bodies were so numerous that burying them all was impossible. The dead were initially weighted down and dumped at sea, but when the gulf currents washed many of the bodies back onto the beach, a new solution was needed. Funeral pyres were set up wherever the dead were found and burned for weeks after the storm. The authorities passed out free whiskey to sustain the distraught men conscripted for the gruesome work of collecting and burning the dead.

Saint Mary’s Orphanage All 10 nuns and 90 of 93 orphans are killed in the hurricane.

Time to Rebuild… The people of Galveston knew their old form of government would not be able to handle this huge task so they formed a new one. The new government they chose was called a city commission. Commission - group of government officials elected to perform certain duties in order to run the city. Commissioners were chosen for certain areas of city development like transportation, water/sewer services, public safety, etc. Each member of the commission had specific knowledge on certain city development

Time to Rebuild, cont. The new government proved so effective that hundreds of other TX and U.S. cities adopted it. This city commission form of government would become the standard for the next few decades until the mayor-council form of government that’s used in most cities today took over. By 1993, no city commission forms of government existed in Texas

As the story of the city's tragedy spread, the world responded… Clara Barton, the 78-year-old founder of the American Red Cross, arrived on Sept. 17 with a group of workers to distribute food and clothing Donations poured in from cities around the United States and several foreign countries. Money came from millionaires in New York, from black churches in Georgia, and from a little girl in Chicago, who sent 10 cents. Donations came from religious groups, labor and fraternal organizations and thousands of individuals. Relief funds were raised by an organ recital in Scranton, Pa., and by a baseball game in Anaconda, Mont. Sunday school classes sent their collections of pennies, nickels and dimes. In all, donations exceeded $1.25 million. By far the most generous state was New York ($228,055), followed by Texas ($66,790), Illinois ($55,544), Massachusetts ($53,350) and Missouri ($52,116). Donations also arrived from foreign countries – among them, Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, England and South Africa.

Steps Taken by Galveston to Prevent Future Damage They built a seawall to prevent future floods. It was a three-mile, concrete wall along the coast and was 16 ft. high and 17 ft. wide. Today it stretches more than 10 miles. 5,200 railway carloads of crushed granite, 1,800 carloads of sand, 1,000 carloads of cement, 1,200 carloads of round wooden pilings, 4,000 carloads of wooden sheet pilings, 3,700 carloads of stone riprap and five carloads of reinforcing steel. When the wall was finished, it stood 17 feet above mean low tide, was 15 feet thick at the base, five feet thick at the top, and three-and-one-half miles long. A brick drive extended about 100 feet inland from the top.

Building of the Seawall

Step 2: Lift the City… They raised the city... Engineers pumped sand from the sea floor of the Gulf of Mexico and re-located underneath buildings and homes. When the job was finished in 1910, 500 city blocks had been raised from a few inches to more than 16 feet by the use of 16.3 million cubic yards of sand.

Galveston Homes Lifted While Awaiting Sand From the Gulf Pumping sand from the Gulf

Galveston Seawall during Hurricane Ike - 2008

Aftermath Photographs & Film http://www.1900storm.com/photographs/index.lasso http://www.1900storm.com/film/index.lasso http://www.galveston.com/seawallcam/