Galveston, a bustling island town, was dubbed “the New York of the South” because of its thriving industry. The streets were wide and business was prosperous until September 8, 1900, when a tropical hurricane suddenly veered westward in the Gulf of Mexico and raged over the island with winds in excess of 110 mph. What was once a promising town now witnessed more than six thousand casualties and utter destruction. Story of the 1900 Galveston Hurricane is an in-depth, heart-wrenching account of what turned out to be one of the worst natural disasters in United States history.
Written in 1900, not long after the tragedy, this book brings together dozens of photographs and firsthand narratives chronicling the storm and devastation. Families were torn apart in the swirling waters as they clung to debris. Neighbors and strangers gathered in houses, moving upstairs and to the roof as the floodwaters rose. The living and the dead were washed to sea and back again as nature bent her rules in the seemingly endless storm.
This book is not just a relation of the tragedy, but also of the fledgling hope alive in Galveston as the waters receded. Many of the accounts tell of the remarkable endurance of human nature as survivors grieved and worked together. Some family and friends were reunited. Donations poured in from all over the country, and plans were made to rebuild from the very scraps that littered the town. This book preserves the stories in an epic of survival, community, and rebirth.