On the evening of September 8th, 1900, Galveston Texas was struck by a category 4 hurricane estimated wind speeds of up to 135 mph and a storm surge of 15 to 20 feet. After the storm had past, up to 8000 lives were lost and the coast line was changed forever.
The origin of the “Great Hurricane” remains unclear due to the limited observation ability 109 years ago. It is believed the storm originated as many powerful Atlantic Basin hurricanes do off the west coast of Africa. On August 27th an area of “unsettled weather” 1000 miles east of the Windward Islands was reported by a ship (source Neil L. Frank). This area of disturbed weather developed into a tropical storm and moved over the Island of Cuba and entered the Florida Straits as either a strong tropical storm or a weak hurricane on September 5th. The storm continued to move west northwest until making landfall on Galveston Island on the night of the 8th. The destruction was unbelievable. For more information on this catastrophic storm click the following photos:
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