The Weather Notebook: The Galveston Hurricane

The Galveston Hurricane
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Dave Thurlow, Host

From New Hampshire's Mount Washington Observatory, this is Dave Thurlow for The Weather Notebook.

On the morning of September 8th, 1900, an employee of the Galveston Texas Weather Bureau by the name of Isaac Cline reported a strengthening wind, darkening skies, and a barometric pressure that was dropping like a rock.

After the disaster - NOAA Photo Collection
He immediately initiated the hurricane warning system which, then, was to ride up and down the Galveston beach on horseback screaming at people to head to higher ground. Most people did just that, but they had no idea that there really was no ground high enough within several city blocks of the shoreline.

Isaac Cline went to his house after the Weather Bureau's anemometer blew away and the waves were lapping at the front door. But at only 10 feet above sea level, his home offered little resistance to the storm surge and by nightfall, his house was swept away into the sea, along with 4,000 other buildings, literally half the city.

Cline floated on the wreckage of his house while the storm roared. He watched as many of the storms 7,000 victims, including his family, drowned or drifted out to sea, lost forever.

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      "You now, the year of 1900.
      Too many years ago.
      Death come howling on the ocean.
      Death calls you got to go.

      Now Galveston had a seawall.
      To keep the water down.
      High tide from the ocean.
      Spread the water all over the town.

Wasn't that a mighty storm."

Lyrics by Tom Rush