On Sept. 4, 1900, the Galveston weather station received a warning that a hurricane was moving north from Cuba. Two days later on Sept. 6th the barometric pressure at the weather station was at 29.97 in. of mercury and was gradually falling. The station's weather scientist, Isaac M. Cline, was told that the hurricane had passed over Central Florida doing little harm. The next day, Cline noted that the winds at Galveston were becoming stronger and the seas were unpleasant, however he didn't noticed any of the usual warning signs of a hurricane.
On Sept. 8, the Galveston News reported, “The tropical hurricane, which has done great damage on the islands of Jamaica and Cuba, struck the Florida coast Wednesday morning. No damage was done at Miami...
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The weather forecast in the Galveston News for Eastern Texas read, “Rain Saturday, with high northerly winds; Sunday rain, followed by clearing.” Cline noticed that the tides were rising much higher than usual. When the low areas of the city began flooding, Cline began raising hurricane-warning flags. Cline reported later that he had left his brother Joseph in charge of the weather office to warn residents closest to the beach that they should find safer shelter. However, the people of Galveston went about their day as usual. They had survived storms in the past with little damage, and they were not frightened by yet …show more content…
9th the majority of the city was wrecked. Between 6,000 and 8,000 people in Galveston had died during the storm. The estimated number of deaths for the entire island ranged from 10,000 to 12,000. Property damage is difficult to gauge by present day guidelines but modern figures ranged from twenty to thirty million dollars. A water mark of 15.7 feet and high winds had destroyed one-third of the city, including 2,636 houses and 1,500 acres of shoreline.
After the storm, development started on a six-mile-long wall standing between sea and civilization exactly 17ft high. (This wall has been extended over the years). Inside the city, sand pumped from the Gulf floor raised the elevation to the extent of 17ft. This work required advanced raising of 2,146 buildings and numerous streetcar tracks, fireplugs, and water pipes. The highest raised building was a 3,000-tons. It was raised 5ft. off the ground with jacks, and then fill was pumped underneath the buildings. The storm that created all this destruction, left a long track to be remembered
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
Storm Over Texas: The Annexation Controversy and The Road to Civil War, authored by Joel H. Silbey, presents the issues faced during the antebellum over the admission of Texas into the union. The partisan differences resulted in harsh controversy of the South and North, leading towards the Civil War. Silbey goes in depth of the situational occurrences with important figures such as John C. Calhoun, John Quincy Adams, James K. Polk, and Martin Van Buren. Not only does Silbey describe the movements during this time, but keying the main aspect of slavery which was the core issue, leading ultimately to Southern Secession and the Civil War.
Dr. Isaac M. Cline was the chief of the U.S. weather Bureau's Galveston station located on the 3rd floor of the Levy Building which can still be found on the corner of Market and 23rd. Cline had begun tracking the storm from the Cape Verde Basin off the western coast of Africa. On August 31, this storm entered the Caribbean and began to increase in size. The hurricane passed just north of Cuba, and on Thursday, September 6, entered the Gulf of Mexico. The projected course would have the storm make landfall well east of Galveston, but on Friday Dr. Cline became worried.
In the late summer of 2005, a terrible tragedy occurred that changed the lives of many in the south-east region of the United States. A Category 3, named storm, named Hurricane Katrina, hit the Gulf Coast on the 29th of August and led to the death of 1,836 and millions of dollars’ worth of damage (Waple 2005). The majority of the damage occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana. Waple writes in her article that winds “gusted over 100 mph in New Orleans, just west of the eye” (Waple 2005). Not only was the majority of the damage due to the direct catastrophes of the storm but also city’s levees could no longer hold thus breaking and releasing great masses of water. Approximately, 80% of the city was submerged at sea level. Despite the vast amount of damage and danger all throughout the city, officials claimed that there was work being done to restore the city of New Orleans as a whole but many parts, and even the people, of the city were overlooked while areas of the city with higher economic value, and more tourist traffic, were prioritized along with those individuals.
Hurricane Harvey is located in Houston, Texas. It was the first major hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Wilma in 2005, ending a record 12- years period with no major hurricanes making landfall in the country. The sprawling and soaked Houston metro area and other deluge towns in southeast Texas braced for devastating floods and pummeling rainfall on Sunday as tropical storm Harvey stalled over land and drenched dogged searchers and anxious residents. Houston, Texas has set up shelters for people to stay out of the weather with good food, clean and fresh water, and dry, clean clothes. It is getting bigger and it has been confirmed that there will be more flooding close by to that area.
The development of the storm was initiated by an apparent tropical wave that had given way of the African Coast around August 5th. The cloud pattern of the storm slightly resembled that of an inverted “V” began traveling westward, then northward, across the Atlantic Ocean and was recognized as a tropical disturbance 4 days later, August 9th. The following 5 days or so the storm continued to travel showing no sign of circulation. On August 14th the United States Air Force sent a reconnaissance aircraft into the storm for surveillance, with a growing concern. What was about to be Tropical storm Camille was still south of Cuba with expectation to become much more potent. At the point of infiltration by the aircraft the planes barometer revealed a 999 millibar pressure center with 55 mile an hour surface winds. At this point the disturbance was inaugurated to be a “tropical storm.” As the intensification process ensued, and the squall shifted northwestward at a slow speed of 9 miles per hour, but gained a great amount of force in...
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.
Andrew began as a tropical depression in the Atlantic almost a week before hitting South Florida. The next day, which was August 17th , it was the first tropical storm of the season. It was moving with amazing quickness and strength in a west and northwest dire...
By August 28, evacuations were underway across the region. That day, the National Weather Service predicted that after the storm hit, “most of the [Gulf Coast] area will be uninhabitable for weeks…perhaps longer.” New Orleans was at particular risk. Though about half the city actually lies above sea level, its average elevation is about six feet below sea level–and it is completely surrounded by water. Over the course of the 20th century, the Army Corps of Engineers had built a system of levees and seawalls to keep the city from flooding. The levees along the Mississippi River were strong and sturdy, but the ones built to hold back Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Borgne and the waterlogged swamps and marshes to the city’s east and west were much less reliable. Even before the storm, officials worried that those levees, jerry-built atop sandy, porous, erodible soil, might not withstand a massive storm surge. Neighborhoods that sat below sea level, many of which housed the city’s poorest and most vulnerable people, were at great risk of
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.
Leading up to the hurricane, many scientists expected the storm to dissipate over the ocean and cause little to no harm (Rappaport). The scientists were relying on faulty equipment that said that due to slow air speed and l...
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 ...
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 occur all over the world, at different times, but commonly through June first and late November. However in late August 2005 a catastrophic hurricane struck. This was Hurricane Katrina. With winds traveling over one hundred miles per hour making it a category five on the Saffir- Simpson Hurricane Scale it was said to have cause billions of dollars’ worth of damage. Hurricane Katrina flooded nearly forty thousand homes, and killed at least two thousand people (“Hurricane”). An average category five hurricane has enough energy to power street lamps for more than twenty seven thousand hours (Williams 58). Knowing about Hurricane Katrina, and the devastation of the city in New Orleans would be beneficial. Also, general information on hurricanes can help civilians and people of higher authority better understand and prepare for damage that could once hit their town and community. Because experts know the general information on these storms they can help explain to the public why and how Hurricane Katrina and other hurricanes occur. Hopefully, in the future civilians will know and use this information to their advantage against hurricanes.