A two-story high wall of debris steamrollered the island. In pitch darkness, people fought for their lives.
Using today`s methods to determine storm strength by such calculable evidence as storm surge - 15 and a half feet in Galveston that night - meteorologists have concluded that winds reached between 130 and 140 miles per hour, a Category 4 hurricane (5 is strongest). By midafternoon, the telegraph lines went down, which closed communication to the outside world. As the day passed, the storm strengthened. He also advised the residents within the first three blocks of the shore to move to higher ground. When the barometer dropped and the wind grew stronger, and sea swells begin to rise, Cline left his post to urge people along the beach to go home. When his day began at 5 a.m., Cline noticed rising gulf water washing over the island`s lower elevations. No early warning systems were in place at the time, although the NWS had received reports that a "tropical storm" had moved across Cuba four days before and was buffeting the Mississippi and Louisiana coastlines as late as September 7. With only rudimentary equipment available to the local National Weather Service meteorologist, Isaac Cline, forecasting was a matter of watching the horizon and the barometer to predict the whim of the elements. There had been talk of building a seawall after that storm, but the naysayers won out. Surviving that event lent an air of smugness to residents` attitudes about any future fury Mother Nature might deal out.
Galveston had weathered a large storm 25 years earlier. Wealthy visitors traveled to Galveston for a relaxing and therapeutic dip in the warm, shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and by all accounts, its populace was second in the nation in per capita wealth. One thousand ships docked in Galveston at various times throughout the year. More than 70 percent of the nation`s cotton crop passed through the port of about 40,000 residents. With Houston located on the 600 square-mile bay`s western flank, Galveston, the "Gateway to the Bay," became a major player in the late-1800s shipping trade. Galveston Island lies off the southeastern Texas coast, situated parallel to the mainland, creating a buffer between the Gulf of Mexico and Galveston Bay. More financially costly and life-disruptive storms have occurred, but the hurricane that swept through Galveston, Texas, like Sherman through Atlanta, killed between 6,000 and 8,000 people, making it the deadliest "tropical cyclone" in United States history. Nevertheless, one tempest stands out as the nation`s deadliest.
Hurricanes were once unnamed and data about them were lumped together under "Storms," tucked away in dank, dusty, dimly lit library stacks.
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