The Galveston Hurricane- Killer of More People Than All the Storms Since

As horrific as Hurricane Katrina was in 2005, it is by no means the worst hurricane in United States history in terms of loss of life. The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 killed more people than all of the hurricanes combined that have made landfall in this nation since. Some estimates are as high as 12,000 deaths attributed to the Galveston Hurricane, which came ashore with winds in excess of 130 miles per hour on September 8th, 1900. Only the Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1780 and Hurricane Mitch in 1998 killed more among Atlantic hurricanes, as they claimed thousands of lives in the Caribbean islands that they decimated. The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 remains the deadliest natural disaster to ever afflict this country.

At the time of the Galveston Hurricane, these monster storms were not given names, and it is sometimes referred to simply as The Great Storm. When it hit that September day, Galveston had a population of 42,000, making it the biggest city in Texas. Galveston was built on what was a low and flat island, but despite repeated brushes with big storms, it had always managed to weather them. A proposed seawall was dismissed by most of those that lived there, and a local Weather Bureau director named Isacc Cline went as far as to say that it was impossible for a major hurricane to ever target Galveston. Any warnings of impending peril at the hands of hurricanes were disregarded, and to make things worse, the sand dunes along the shore were used as fill for low lying areas in the city, meaning there were no buffers at all for protection from any storm surge a hurricane might bring.