On September 8, 1900, the United States experienced the most devastating natural disaster in history, the 1900 storm. Originating as a tropical storm off the coast of Cuba, the 1900 storm didn’t reach hurricane status until passing Key West, Florida. While in the eastern part of the Gulf of Mexico, the storm took an unexpected turn heading towards the Texas coast. Because of the lack of technology during this era, the people were warned that a storm of moderate intensity was headed toward them. Unaware that the storm was forcefully gaining speed, the Galvestonians were in no way prepared for the extraordinary weather which was quietly approaching. Suddenly, the ruthless hurricane struck the shores of Galveston, Texas, one of the wealthiest cities in the United States, famous for its shipping port. The brutal winds of the storm shocked the city, as they desperately sought shelter. According to the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale (SSHS), hurricanes are categorized by their sustained winds. To be considered a hurricane, a storm has to have sustained winds of 74 mph. That is for a Category 1 storm. The highest ranking on the scale is a Category 5 with sustaining winds of 156 miles per hour. The storm of 1900, with its deadly winds averaging around 140 miles per hour, was a Category 4 hurricane but some people believe the winds may have reached 200 mph. The storm devastated the island. The majority of Galveston Island was rapidly deluged, with the storm surge height reaching 15.7 feet. Barely nine feet showed above water at the peak of the highest ground in Galveston. When the hurricane finally passed and the water had receded enough for the Galvestonians to leave their place of refuge, the citizens emerged to find that th... ... middle of paper ... ...save lives. Another advance in hurricane safety is weather predicting technology. At the time of the storm, there were no warning sirens and although the people were aware that bad weather was coming, they were used to dealing with storms and were unaware of the deadly disaster that was approaching. To this day, the 1900 storm remains the most deadly natural disaster in the history of the United States. Once a major shipping port, Galveston is now forever changed. The storm took with it millions of dollars’ worth of structures, priceless personal possessions, and thousands of innocent lives. Galveston would never regain its wealth to the full extent after the beautiful structures and bustling ports became worthless wreckage scattered across the island and demolished by the ocean. The horrors and heartbreaks that the 1900 storm caused are almost unmeasurable.
Isaac’s Storm, by Erik Larson was a very fascinating book because it is difficult to say absolutely what the true subject of the book is. There are three key players in the book, first it is Isaac Cline a meteorologist for the U.S Weather Bureau, The U.S. Weather Bureau itself, and finally the storm of 1900. However, all three elements collaborate with one another in a significant way. The storm of 1900 is the main catalyst for one of the most devastating storms in the United States. However, the Weather Bureau and Isaac Cline both had an impact on the outcome of the catastrophic storm. The book generally focuses on the Galveston Hurricane of 1990, but more so the actions that Isaac Cline takes, or didn’t take rather. It was very tricky to
On Friday evening, September 7, 1900, many of the 37,000 residents of Galveston, Texas, were settling down to dinner, few if any of them concerned about the steady 15 mph northerly wind rattling their windows. Within 48 hours, at least 8,000 of the townspeople would be dead, victims of the single worst natural disaster in U.S. history. Relatively few people are aware that the deadliest natural disaster in the United States was the hurricane that struck Galveston Island on September 8, 1900. One of the best resources that can be found to help fully understand the significance of this storm is Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History by Erik Larson.
On August 27, 1965, a weather satellite detected a weak tropical disturbance, which was named Betsy, near the Barbados. However, by August 29th the “disturbance” had grown into a hurricane. Betsy not only became one of the most dangerous, but also one of the most expensive storms in the history of the United States. In fact, Time Magazine has rated Hurricane Betsy number 11 in its “Most Destructive U.S. Hurricanes of All Time.” Moreover, this famous hurricane gained the nickname “Billion Dollar Betsy” because it was the first tropical storm to have caused more than $1 billion dollars in damage.
Once there was, as never before, a hurricane of great might and strength. As never before, there once was a hurricane of many names: storm, cyclone, tempest, typhoon, and flood. Yet it has lived on in history as the Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900. Humanity has glorified and immortalized the hurricane. The Great Galveston Hurricane has been the subject of numerous articles, novels, plays, and poems, as well as four major nonfiction studies (Longshore). It is truly one of hurricane lore’s greatest of storms.
The loss of life was estimated between 6,300, and 12,000 citizens, which is enough to hurt any community in multiple ways. Economically, not only did the city have to struggle to begin the rebuilding process, they also had to bury multiple bodies some that were homeless and had no family to claim them. Trains were lost, bridges were smashed down from the plowing power of the waves crashing against them, which was a reason for many deaths, the loss of bridges made evacuation nearly impossible of the island. The money flow fell in the city as well due to the death toll, if there is not as much money flowing through the city through spending there is not as much money to fix the city. Buildings had to be rebuilt, businesses recreated, homes rebuilt, it was a terrible time for everyone. All the rebuilding, and money spending to recreate the town had to be driven by someone, and that was the political figures within the town and the State of Texas. During the time of the hurricane, the governor of Texas was Governor Joseph D. Sayers, and he was notified of the tragedy that was the Galveston Hurricane of 1990. Houston was on standby to begin helping, and together people pulled together to begin reconstruction of a town that was turned to
Imagine that a family is sitting at home watching a calm game of baseball, when suddenly they realize that a massive wall of water is approaching the neighborhood. Where did this flash flood come from, a reader might ask? The wall of water was made by the raging winds and immense power of Hurricane Andrew. Hurricane Andrew was the second most expensive storm in history that destroyed over 250,000 homes in the states of Florida and Louisiana alone. Hurricane Andrew was not predicted to make landfall, so when it did many civilians did not have any ideas that the Hurricane was coming until it was almost too late. Hurricane Andrew also caused many short and long term effects in the ecosystem and local economies.
Galveston is a small island located in Texas. Before the Europeans arrived it once belonged to the Karankawa Indians. Galveston is located on the coast of Texas. Considering it was on the coast it had suffered from many hurricanes but never like the one that hit on September 8, 1900.
Hurricane Harvey was one of the most devastating hurricanes to strike the United States in several years. Harvey resulted in over eighty fatalities and over 150 billion dollars in damages. This proves to be one of the most destructive hurricanes to be recorded. The overwhelming damage was caused by many different aspects; however, three of the greatest aspects are: varying weather patterns throughout the storm, the city structure of Houston, Texas, and the lack of evacuation. Each of these factors affected the city in a different way, but all resulted in a common outcome, devastation.
The story of the 1900 Storm is one about the fate of people at the hands of nature, but it's also one about people altering their own fates by changing the face of nature.The Great Storm was a huge disaster to Galveston, but they learned something that with help them in the future. The Great Storm occurred in september 8, 1900, it was a calm morning until the winds started to blow and the waves rose, the barometers started to increase and the hurricane began to hit. About 6,000 to 12,000 people died and it caused 700 millions of dollars in damage. There is one thing that I am sure of, the hurricane was a huge disaster, but it changed the face of the future of Galveston.
For nearly ten years, Miami has not seen hurricane landfall. This fact may be troubling to those who are inclined to believe, whether through superstition or scientific knowledge, that one is bound to occur anytime now It may be pleasing news for those who have not had to suffer the destruction of these weather-beasts in ten years. Nostalgia, however, is my overwhelming reaction to the topic of hurricanes. I am taken back to candle-lit evenings tinged a mixture two parts electric fear one part mystic coziness.
On August 29, 2005, the third strongest and biggest hurricane ever recorded in American history hit the Gulf Coast at eight o’clock a.m. The interaction between a tropical depression and a tropical wave created a tropical storm later referred to as Hurricane Katrina (FAQS, 2013). Forming over the Bahamas, Hurricane Katrina gradually strengthened as it moved closer and closer to the Gulf of Mexico. Recorded on August 28th, 2005, Katrina jumped from a category three storm to a category five storm with maximum sustained winds up to 160 miles per hour. Although other hurricanes, such as Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Wilma, exceeded Katrina, this dominant storm was classified as the fourth most intense hurricane based its pressure capacity. Once Hurricane Katrina hit land, it was pronounced as a category four storm moving slowly. While people thought that the slow speed of this storm prevented trauma, records show that Katrina did more damage than any fast-moving storm could have ever achieved (Solanki, 2013). Katrina produced abundant debris. The debris was in such large quantity that if it was stacked together on a football field, the rubble would reach the elevation of ten and a half miles. The size of Katrina also caused 90,000 square miles to be affected. Once proclaimed a category three storm, Hurricane Katrina slowed to the speed of 155 miles per hour. At this point in time, Katrina proved to be the sixth most prevailing hurricane traced in history. (Solanki, 2013). Several different aspects of life were impacted by Hurricane Katrina such as availability of gasoline, economic issues, and the ability to have an adequate supply of drinking water (Solanki, 2013). Hurricane Katrina was a large storm ...
In response to the damage caused by Hurricane Isabel, Virginia Governor Mark Warner described it as, “Probably the worst storm in a generation” (Washington Post, Ambrose). This was certainly not an overstatement as the National Weather Service reported that Isabel created 925 million dollars of damage in the state of Virginia alone (Johnson). While Isabel was not the most intense storm once it reached the United States, the size of this storm and the population of the area it impacted was why it caused so much damage (Johnson). This paper will discuss the science behind the creation of this storm, the impact of the storm in Richmond, Virginia and its surrounding areas, and the efforts to decrease the effects of the storm along with what could have further prevented any damages.
Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana as a ‘Category 2’ storm on August 25, 2005 with winds of 115-130 miles per hour that extended more than 100 miles from its center (Sparks 2008). Many watched in horror as it quickly became clear that the city’s 350-mile levee system, a federally-funded project built by the Army Corps of Engineers in the aftermath of the devastation of Hurricane Betsy in 1965, was not strong enough to defend against the encroaching floodwaters. Breach was inevitable. Within eighteen hours of Katrina’s impact, the city was almost entirely flooded under six to twenty feet of water and over 300,000 homes were destroyed (Sparks 2008). Devastation and heartbreak gripped every corner of the city, as it became increasingly clear that the federal, state, and local governments were severely unprepared to respond to a disaster as intense as Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent levee breach. In total, over one million people in Louisiana evacuated, and approximately 1,300 people perished as a result of the storm (Sparks 2008).
Hurricanes are powerful and destructive storms that involve great rain and wind. The United States of America has dealt with many hurricanes that have cost a great amount of damage. However, there is one hurricane that happened in 2005 that stands out among the others, Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst hurricanes to hit the United States, a category 5 on the Saffir/Simpson Hurricane Scale. An estimated 1836 people died because of the hurricane and the floodings that happened after (Zimmermann 1). Katrina initially beg...
Hurricanes are some of the deadliest and most expensive natural disasters around town. Hurricanes are more common in warm, humid climates on the coasts. “In late summer, above the warm, Tropical seas that lie on either side of the equator, enormous rotating storm systems can develop with wind speeds of 75mph and above. These vigorous winds are created in the Atlantic Ocean, usually in the months of June-March, prime hurricane season.”(Claire).Hurricanes like these can not only devastate homes, but families as well. For example, on August 29, 2005, a hurricane by the name of Hurricane Katrina hits the United States, causing mass devastation.“Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest hurricanes to ever hit the United States. An estimated 2,833