Galveston and the Great Storm of 1900

The Great Storm of 1900 was no respecter of persons or buildings. (Follow the link to a BBC animation on hurricane formation.) Whether residential or commercial, solidly built houses and other structures were wiped away as easily as one pushes paper from a desktop.

The Grand Hotel was no longer grand in the wake of the storm. The exterior wall of Trinity Episcopal Church looked as though it had never existed.

How quickly everything happened - within a few hours - made the catastrophe even more terrifying. Yet, there were remarkable survival stories. Twenty-eight people, crammed together in the second-story room of an otherwise demolished apartment building, survived.

When the storm passed, and daylight returned, Galveston survivors saw neighborhoods of flattened homes. The heavily populated area of 23rd Street and Avenue P was a pitiful sight.

What was under the wreckage? Countless bodies, awaiting discovery and identification.

The relentless wind, coupled with the storm surge, guaranteed total destruction of many homes. On October 9, 1900 a report would be filed showing only a small segment of the total losses. They were staggering.

As the storm hit the mainland, its ferocity lessened but it did not die until days later when it passed over Nova Scotia. It was the deadliest hurricane to ever strike the United States.

To this day, it remains America's worst natural disaster.