Buckled and broken homes line
Galveston’s streets after the 1900
storm.

Feature Stories : The Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900

The Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900

NOAA’s National Weather Service is the primary source of weather data, forecasts, and warnings for the United States and is the sole U.S.
official voice for issuing warnings during life-threatening weather situations such as hurricanes. Using intricate computer modeling programs, a
vast network of ground- and ocean-based sensors, satellites, and Hurricane Hunter aircraft, NOAA works to provide accurate predictions of
hurricane storm track and intensity, helping to protect life and property.

In 1785, when Spanish colonial explorer Jose de Evia charted and named the Galveston Bay area in honor of his superior, New Spain Viceroy
Bernardo de Galvez, the island’s only inhabitants were a little-known band of Indians called the Akokisa. Victims of an ever-dwindling
population, the Akokisa were destined to fade away shortly after the turn of the century.

By 1817, Galveston Island became the province of pirate Jean Lafitte and served as a base for slave trading, gambling, and saloons, all provided
for buyers and fellow buccaneers. Lafitte’s enterprises thrived for several years, until he ran afoul of the American Navy and was forced to leave.
During the 1830s, Galveston would also serve as home port to Navy ships engaged in the Texas War of Independence from Mexico.

The City of Galveston was incorporated in 1839, and was well on its way to becoming a major U.S. port and a
thriving commercial center. Located on a barrier island 30 miles long and several miles wide, the city continued
to grow and prosper. By the turn of the century, Galveston’s population approached 40,000 and it seemed
destined to become one of the biggest and most important cities along the Gulf Coast. Destiny, however, can
be a capricious mistress, a fact that would become painfully clear on September 8, 1900.

On that fateful day, the Great Galveston Hurricane roared ashore, devastating the island city with winds of 130
to 140 miles per hour and a storm surge in excess of 15 feet. When its fury finally abated, at least 8,000
people were dead, 3,600 buildings were destroyed, and damage estimates exceeded $20 million ($700 million
in today’s dollars). To this day, the 1900 Galveston hurricane remains the deadliest natural disaster in the
nation’s history.

A Difficult Prediction

With the NOAA 200th Celebration coming to a close at the end of 2007, maintenance of
this Web site ceased. Updates to the site are no longer being made.

This map shows the approximate path of
the 1900 Galveston hurricane. Click
image for larger view and full
description.

Isaac M. Cline is most famous for his
actions as Meteorologist in Charge of
Galveston, Texas, during the Great
Hurricane of 1900.

U.S. Weather Bureau forecasters were aware of the Galveston hurricane as early as August 30. By the time the
storm passed over Cuba (September 4) and reached a position just northwest of Key West (September 6),
forecasters were convinced the storm would continue to track to the northeast. But, once in the Gulf of Mexico,
the system began to strengthen and veer westward – on a collision course with the Texas coast. Since wireless
ship-to-shore communications were not yet available, there was no way to know just when and where the
hurricane would strike.

While the usual signs associated with the approach of a hurricane were still not in evidence, Galveston Weather
Station Chief Isaac M. Cline was becoming increasingly suspicious of the weather. On September 7, Cline
ordered hurricane warning flags to be flown.

In a special report on the hurricane, published in the Monthly Weather Review, Cline later noted:

“A heavy swell from the southeast made its appearance in the Gulf of Mexico during the afternoon of the 7th.
The swell continued during the night without diminishing, and the tide rose to an unusual height when it is
considered that the wind was from the north and northwest…”

Early the next morning, Cline said he harnessed his horse to a cart, drove to
the beach, and warned everyone of the impending danger from the storm –
advising them to get to higher ground immediately. At the time, the highest
point in the city was only 8.7 feet above sea level.

During the storm, Galveston was inundated with a storm surge of 15.7 feet.
Cline and his brother Joseph continued to send updated reports to
headquarters until the last of the telegraph lines went down.

Cline reported that winds increased steadily throughout the afternoon,
reaching a sustained velocity of 100 miles per hour shortly after 6:00 p.m. –
at which time the station’s anemometer was blown away. Within another two
hours, wind speeds were estimated in excess of 130 miles per hour.

Enduring the Storm and Its Aftermath

With the wind and debris swirling around them, the citizens of Galveston waded through the rapidly rising floodwaters, seeking protection in the
strongest-looking homes and structures they could find. One of these structures was Cline’s own house, where his wife, three daughters, brother,
and about 50 neighbors took refuge from the maelstrom.

The house was a solid structure and Cline believed it might have survived the storm’s fury if a railroad trestle had not been ripped free and borne
along by the wind and waves. He recalled:

The great Galveston hurricane roared
through the prosperous island city with
winds in excess of 130 miles per hour
and a 15-foot storm surge. When it was
finally over, at least 3,500 homes and
buildings were destroyed and more than
8,000 people were killed. Click image for
larger view.

A horse cart carries bodies through the
streets of Galveston. The bodies were
placed on barges and buried at sea.
Others were burned in huge funeral
pyres. Click image for larger view.

“The street railway trestle was carried squarely against the side of the house like a huge battering ram; the
house creaked and was carried over in the surging waters and torn to pieces.”

Isaac Cline and his brother managed to save his three daughters, but his wife was among the thousands who
died that night. Many of those who survived would carry the memories and replay the nightmare of that
terrible night for the rest of their lives. A collection of survivors’ letters, memoirs, and oral histories have been
archived in Galveston’s Rosenberg Library. Some of the more memorable accounts are captured in a
publication entitled, “Through a Night of Horrors: Voices from the 1900 Galveston Storm.”

One of the “voices” was that of traveling salesman Charles Law, who took shelter in the city’s sturdy Tremont
Hotel. Excerpts from a letter to his wife describe his ordeal:

“I have passed through the most trying, horrible thing in my life. God knows that on Saturday night I had
given up all hopes of ever seeing the light of day, and my prayers were on my lips asking God to take care of
you and the little darling there at home, seemed that I would be floating with the thousand poor dead bodies
out in the streets at any moment.

On Sunday morning, after the storm was all over, I went out into the streets and the most horrible sights that
you can ever imagine. I gazed upon dead bodies lying here and there. The houses all blown to pieces; women,
men and children all walking the streets in a weak condition with bleeding heads and bodies and feet all torn to pieces with glass where they
had been treading through the debris of fallen buildings. And when I got to the gulf and bay coast, I saw hundreds of houses all destroyed with
dead bodies all lying in the ruins, little babies in their mothers’ arms.”

As the citizens of Galveston began to come to grips with the initial shock and horror surrounding them, they
realized the most immediate task was to find a way to deal with the massive carnage. In his memoirs,
Galveston Daily News correspondent Ben Stuart offered this graphic account:

“It was determined to load the dead on barges, tow them to sea and cast them into the deep. This was done,
and the gruesome spectacle then presented is one none who were witness desire to see again. Many of these
bodies were again cast ashore by the currents, and it was seen that some other method must be invoked.
Burial on the spot where found, or incineration, generally the latter, were the only practicable methods – and
they were pursued for more than six weeks. There were huge piles of burning wreckage, in which bodies of
victims were being consumed…”

At the age of 19, Galveston’s Emma Bernie Beal was one of those who bore witness to the burning – an image
that would haunt her dreams for years:

“I stood out there and watched them burn some bodies. It was right across the street, on the corner of 37th
and P. I recall this one body, the arm went up like that and I screamed. I never will forget that. I just saw the
hand go up. I’d stand there and watch them burn the bodies and then I’d have nightmares and scream and
holler. Oh, it was a terrible thing. There’s something crazy about you when you watch anything like that.”

Rebuilding

Vegetation was uprooted and washed
away by the massive storm surge
associated with the 1900 storm.

First built following the 1900 storm,
today the seawall at Galveston provides
protection for some parts of the city.

Today, NOAA uses an arsenal of tools to
forecast hurricanes and inform the
public about impending danger. This
satellite image shows Hurricane Katrina
at 1:15 p.m. EDT on August 26, three
days before the storm made landfall as

In what has frequently been described as the city’s finest hour, the citizens of Galveston displayed exceptional
resiliency and determination. They decided to rebuild and, in so doing, achieved a remarkable feat of civil
engineering. The two-fold project called for raising the grade of the entire city and building a seawall to help
protect it.

The first challenge was to raise all of the structures with jackscrews. Sewer and gas lines and utilities were
also raised. Dikes were then built around sections of the city and sand dredged from Galveston’s ship channel
was pumped through a network of pipes as liquid slurry. The water drained, the sand remained, and, within a
decade, 500 city blocks had been raised with heights varying from one to up to 11 feet.

During that same period, engineers were also busy constructing the seawall.
Initially, it spanned nearly 50 blocks, providing protection for the heart of the
city. The seawall was tested in 1915 when a Category 3 hurricane battered
the coast with sustained winds of 120 miles per hour and a 16-foot storm
surge. The city sustained serious flooding and while the wall was damaged, it
held up, preventing a repeat of the devastation experienced in 1900. The
1915 storm caused limited damage and only six deaths in the city of
Galveston. Several hundred homes were destroyed and 42 deaths occurred
in unprotected portions of the island.

Additional sections have been added to the seawall over the years. Today,
the wall measures 16 feet at the base, rises 17 feet, and spans more than
10 miles of coastline. However, that still leaves two-thirds of the island, and
a growing number of its residents, in harm’s way.

Hurricane Prediction Today

The ability of the National Hurricane Center, part of NOAA’s National Weather Service, to detect, predict, and
warn for dangerous storms and hurricanes has improved dramatically over the years. Today, geostationary
satellites provide continuous surveillance that helps determine the location, size, and intensity of developing
storms. Powerful computers and sophisticated programs help provide longer, more accurate track forecasts and
detailed storm surge models.

Both NOAA and the U.S. Air Force use specially equipped aircraft to fly into hurricanes to measure wind,
pressure, temperature, and humidity and to pinpoint the location of a storm’s core. These flights enhance
scientists’ understanding of hurricanes and improve forecast capabilities. As hurricanes approach coastlines,
the National Weather Service’s land-based Doppler weather radar network is used by forecasters to monitor
storm movement and develop inland hurricane warnings.

With all of the new developments in data-gathering technology, computer modeling, and scientists’ enhanced
knowledge of the structure and behavior of tropical systems, there is virtually no possibility that a hurricane

a Category 3 hurricane with maximum
winds estimated near 125 miles per
hour to the east of the storm center.
Click image for larger view.

could escape detection today. Weather researchers still do not fully understand all of the facets of hurricane
development, intensification, and direction. However, the tools at hand now do provide for more accurate
forecasts and earlier warnings, allowing citizens enough time to protect themselves and their families and to
help ensure our coastal communities are never again plagued with the level of death and destruction wreaked
upon Galveston on September 8, 1900.

Contributed by Ron Trumbla, NOAA’s National Weather Service

Works Consulted

Greene, C.E., & Kelly, S.H. (2000). Through a Night of Horrors: Voices From the 1900 Galveston Storm. College Station, Texas: Texas A & M
University Press.

Larson, E. (1999). Isaac’s Storm. New York, N.Y.: Crown Publishing Group.

Larson, E. (1999). Isaac’s Storm: History of Galveston. Retrieved August 21, 2006, from: http://www.randomhouse.com/features/
isaacsstorm/greatstorm/historygalveston.htm

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