Galveston's Response to the Hurricane of 1900 The Galveston Seawall under construction, from the Texas Almanac 1904. The fact that the city of Galveston exists today is the triumph of imagination, hope and determination over reality. Perched precariously on a sand-barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico, Galveston is subject to the whims of inevitable hurricanes. One of those hurricanes, dancing its deadly way across the Gulf of Mexico in early September 1900, came very close to dealing the city a fatal blow. An estimated 6,000 residents died, and most structures in the city were destroyed or badly damaged. In terms of human life, it remains the worst natural disaster in United States history. Galveston's leaders took several major steps to recover from the storm and to prevent a recurrence of the devastation. First, they developed a new form of municipal government, one with strong centralized control to handle the economic recovery of the city. Next, they built a massive seawall to turn back storm-generated waves. Perhaps the most amazing step they took was to raise the level of the entire city, by more than 16 feet in some areas, in order to keep flooding at a minimum. Previous Storms Hurricanes struck Galveston at least 11 times during the 19th century. In 1818, the entire island was flooded to a depth of four feet, leaving only six buildings habitable.After a storm inundated the city in 1837, a local carpenter, Joseph Ehlinger, suggested rebuilding the destroyed customshouse on four- foot pilings to raise it above the flood level. After that time, many structures in Galveston, residences included, were built on stilts. A storm in 1867 tore up all but one of the docks and flooded the business area. One of the federal government's earliest weather stations was established in Galveston in 1871 for reporting local weather data to the national weather office. The 1875 hurricane that heavily damaged the port town of Indianola, about 120 crow's-flight miles southwest, also hit Galveston. Following that storm, Galveston asked the state to construct a breakwater. The state refused. In 1878, the city planted salt cedars atop some of the sand dunes, hoping that the trees' root network would hold the dunes in place and create a natural breakwater. A little sand was brought in to raise some areas, but even after that, the highest point in the city was less than nine feet above sea level. The hurricane that finished off Indianola in 1886 produced more discussions in Galveston of building a seawall, but no action. The Storm of Sept. 8, 1900 On Sept. 4, 1900, the Galveston weather station received its first notice that a hurricane was moving northward from Cuba. The barometric pressure at the Galveston weather station at 7:00 a.m. on Sept. 6 was 29.97 inches of mercury and slowly falling. The station's climatologist, Isaac M. Cline, was notified by telegraph that the hurricane had passed over central Florida. On the following day, Cline noted in his journal that the winds at Galveston were becoming stronger and the seas were rough, but he noticed none of the usual warning signs of an imminent hurricane. On Saturday morning, Sept. 8, in a story datelined "Miami, Fla., Sept. 7," the Galveston Newsreported, "The tropical hurricane, which has done considerable damage on the islands of Jamaica and Cuba, struck the Florida coast Wednesday morning. No damage was done at Miami ... Telegraph wires were blown down and this part of the country was shut off from the outside world from Wednesday night until this evening." Telegraph lines were also down on the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts, and Cline could not be notified of the direction of the storm's path. In Galveston that Saturday morning, rain clouds were building up, the winds were much stronger. 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 tide was much higher than usual. When low-lying areas of the city began flooding, Cline became alarmed and hoisted hurricane- warning flags. Cline reported later that he had left the weather office in the care of his brother Joseph and a helper numerous times that day to warn residents closest to the beach that they should find safer shelter. However, many Galvestonians went about their day as usual. They had endured storms in the past, and they were not alarmed by yet another. The rain gauge blew down from its perch atop the Levy Building about 2:30 p.m. The barometer began a rapid fall during the late afternoon. The anemometer blew away at 5:15 p.m., shortly after recording average wind speeds of 84 miles an hour and gusts of 100. Cline later estimated that the strongest winds were 120 miles per hour. However, many survivors reported seeing slate, timbers, bricks and other heavy debris being blown through the air almost horizontally, which could indicate much stronger winds. The storm made match sticks out of frame buildings. Even those that had been carefully constructed to withstand the wind and rain of hurricanes were not able to resist battering by bridge trestles and other debris from already collapsed structures. Even "storm-proof" brick buildings fell under the onslaught. The collapsing buildings caught and held victims under water. Others were cut down by wave-tossed or wind-blown debris.The entire island was covered by a storm surge of up to 15.7 feet of water; the previous record from the 1875 storm was 8.2 feet. After the Storm When the wind and rain stopped and the water receded, the survivors emerged from their shelters to a horrific sight. Bodies lay everywhere. Many victims were buried in the huge piles of rubble that covered the city; they were discovered only as the clean-up progressed. Structures in two-thirds of the city were totally destroyed. In the remaining one-third, most buildings were badly damaged. The Galveston News published a stark single sheet on Sunday morning, headed, "Galveston News. Sunday Sept. 9, 1900. Following is list of dead as accurately as News men have been able to make it. Those who have lost relatives should report same at Newsoffice. This list will be corrected and added to as returns come in." There followed a two-column list of names. There will probably never be a full accounting of all the people who perished in the 1900 storm. In the semitropical climate, the most urgent task was disposing of the remains of the victims for health reasons. Because of the powerful stench of decaying bodies, searchers wore handkerchiefs saturated with camphor over their noses, and many drank whiskey to dull the horror. When not enough volunteers could be found for this grisly task, men were rounded up at gunpoint or bayonet point to do it. At first, the remains were transported on barges into the Gulf, weighted with heavy rocks, and dumped overboard. When some of the bodies began to float ashore several days later, funeral pyres were used to cremate the victims. About 70 victims a day were found during the first month after the storm. The funeral fires burned into November. Not until Feb. 10, 1901, was the last body found. A final list of 4,263 dead was published in the Galveston News in early October, but many bodies were never identified. The best estimates give the number of dead as about 6,000 people in the city, while another 4,000-6,000 died elsewhere on the island and on the nearby mainland.Besides the human toll, the value of damaged property was estimated at $30 million, including 3,600 homes destroyed. The wagon bridge had washed away, leaving railroads the only transportation to the mainland. Recovery Begins At a mass meeting the day after the storm, citizens elected a committee to direct recovery efforts: Galveston Mayor Walter C. Jones was named chairman of the Central Relief Committee; state senator R.V. Davidson was secretary of the committee; ship agent W.A. McVitie was chairman of relief services; banker John Sealy was in charge of finances; ship agent Daniel Ripley was placed in charge of hospitals; banker and businessman Morris Lasker was in charge of correspondence. Also on the committee were financier I.H. Kempner; alderman Ben Levy; ship agent Jens Moller; banker Bertrand Adoue; Rabbi Henry Cohen of Congregation B'nai Israel; city recorder and attorney Noah Allen; and editor W.V. McConn. The relief committee organized quickly to take care of the most urgent needs of the survivors. As the story of the city's tragedy spread, the world responded. Clara Barton, the 78-year-old founder of the American Red Cross, arrived on Sept. 17 with a group of workers. The Central Relief Committee delegated to them the distribution of food and clothing until the Red Cross group left on Nov. 14. Donations poured in from cities around the United States and several foreign countries.Money came from millionaires in New York, from black churches in Georgia, and from a little girl in Chicago, who sent 10 cents. Donations came from religious groups, labor and fraternal organizations and thousands of individuals. Relief funds were raised by an organ recital in Scranton, Pa., and by a baseball game in Anaconda, Mont. Money was sent by the German Turnverein of St. Louis, Mo., and the Rough and Ready Fire Company of Montrose, Pa. Sunday school classes sent their collections of pennies, nickels and dimes.