GALVESTON, Texas – Imagine a beautiful Saturday morning in Galveston. Warm and humid, thousands of people starting their day not knowing that a massive Category 4 hurricane was hours away from slamming their town.
By nightfall on Sept. 8, 1900, hurricane-force winds hit Galveston. Hurricane forecasts in 1900 relied heavily on direct observations from ships and an accurate forecast was a challenge, to say the least.
The 1900 Galveston hurricane is thought to have formed on Aug. 27, 1900, off the coast of Africa. Early observations of the storm started around Aug. 30, 1900.
Despite the storm moving over the mountainous terrain of Hispaniola and Cuba on Sept. 4, 1900, the cyclone maintained tropical-storm strength as it approached the Gulf of Mexico. As the storm moved past Key West on Sept. 6, 1900, it was still just a tropical storm. Forecasters thought the storm was taking the classic northeast turn and heading out to the open Atlantic Ocean and away from the Gulf of Mexico.
Little did forecasters know that the cyclone did not turn northeast, but rather churned right into the Gulf -- a hot bath of water full of fuel to ignite a sleeping giant. The storm exploded, rapidly intensifying to a Category 2 hurricane, and within a day growing to a major Category 4 hurricane before making landfall.
The people of Galveston didn't know that a hurricane was coming until it was too late, and no one anticipated how strong the storm would be. The now-famous Isaac Cline noticed unusually high tides in Galveston and discovered that a storm was coming.
With little notice, the hurricane almost wiped Galveston off the map. The 1900 Galveston hurricane remains the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history. The official count of lives lost is still a mystery, but most agree that 6,000 people perished as 125 mph winds hit the Island. Most lost their lives to flooding as 15- to 20-foot storm tides washed over Galveston.
The Galveston Seawall was built in response to the hurricane.
Historians said the 1900 Galveston hurricane changed Gulf Coast history. In 1900, Galveston was on track to become the "Houston" of Southeast Texas.