How The 1900 Galveston Hurricane Left Thousands Dead And Nearly Destroyed The City

Considered the deadliest natural disaster in American history, the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 left one in four city residents homeless and killed up to 12,000 people.

On September 8, 1900, the coastal city of Galveston, Texas, was hit by a hurricane like none that the United States had ever experienced before.

Winds of 120 miles per hour slammed the city with flying debris that cut through homes like shrapnel. Waves crashed onto the streets, leaving the city 15 feet underwater at one point. And, worst of all, virtually nobody had the foresight to evacuate.

Galvestonians had experienced ocean floodwaters from storms before, but they hadn’t ever done much more than board up windows and build beach houses up off the ground as prevention. This lack of preparation would cost them dearly.

A house sits on its side, uprooted from its foundation by the Galveston Hurricane's powerful winds and floodwaters.Wikimedia Commons

A victim of the storm lies among the wreckage of destroyed houses.Wikimedia Commons

Men carry bodies on a stretcher, surrounded by wreckage.Wikimedia Commons

A looter who was later learned to be deaf is seen removing a ring off the body of a dead man.Library of Congress

Men prepare to cremate a rotting body found after the storm.Library of Congress

A young boy manages a smile while sitting on the rubble of yet another building destroyed by the Galveston Hurricane's winds.Wikimedia Commons

A family stands around the remains of their home, destroyed by the storm.Bettmann/Getty Images

Wreckage lined the beach for miles along the Galveston shore.Wikimedia Commons

Men work to dig a body that was found buried in the muddy debris from the storm's wrath.Library of Congress

A dredge boat was found three miles from the sea, pushed there by the hurricane's force.Wikimedia Commons

Men use ropes to pull away the debris of houses in order to look for bodies.Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images

The headline from the Houston Daily Post reporting the carnage. The body count would later rise to a much higher number than originally reported.University Of North Texas Library

Men walk with a wagon hauling off dead bodies in the muddy streets of a demolished Galveston.Library of Congress

The shattered remains of St. Lucas Terrace. After this photo was taken, rescuers would go on to find 80 bodies amid the rubble.Library of Congress

Three young men stand in the ruins of St. Patrick's church. Nearly all of the church was destroyed except for this small piece of the church's front altar.Wikimedia Commons

Horses pull a body wagon stacked with the dead. They would eventually be loaded onto a barge for burial at sea.Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images

A man stands in front of Ursuline Academy, Galveston's school for African-American students.Wikimedia Commons

Men search through the rubble.Wikimedia Commons

Two men and a woman stand outside a new building constructed with what lumber was available in the days after the storm.Library of Congress

A family combs through the wreckage, looking for any valuables that might have survived the storm.Wikimedia Commons

A view of the sea wall that was built after the hurricane to protect the city from future disaster. 1902.U.S. Census Bureau

The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 remains the deadliest natural disaster in modern American history, leaving behind an estimated death toll of 6 to 12 thousand people and creating half a billion dollars in damages.

Warnings Ignored, Telegraph Lines Destroyed, And Calamity In The Making

The first sign that trouble was coming occurred on August 27, when a ship traveling 1,000 miles off the coast of the West Indies reported "unsettled" weather — but nothing to cause alarm.

Antigua saw thunder, and Cuba got quite a lot of rain in the following days, but the tropical storm that hit the Florida Straights was only a shadow of what it would grow to be.

The problem was the Gulf of Mexico: its waters were warm that summer, and conditions were perfect to turn a tropical squall into a monster hurricane. But U.S. meteorologists ignored warnings from Cuba, not because they were unaware of the danger posed by the Gulf waters, but because they didn't think the storm was headed that way.

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