UPDATE: Click on the highlighted link for images of the IKE aftermath
September 9, 1900, Galveston, Texas
I'm keeping a close eye on Hurricane Ike which is predicted to make landfall this Saturday in Galveston. One of my most favorite books of all times is "Isaac's Storm" by Erik Larson. It's a fictional account of real life people and events based on a deadly hurricane that hit the seaside town almost 108 years to the day. To read it from the viewpoint of Isaac Cline, a highly trained first-generation employee of the brand new U.S. Weather Bureau - and then see the actual photos of what happened is a haunting experience. Isaac was a real man, he suffered greatly and the story builds and builds as the hurricane approaches.
Winds estimated at 140 mph swept over the island on that day, leaving behind utter devastation. After the storm surge of 15.7 feet subsided, Galvestonians left their shelters to find 6,000 of the city's 37,000 residents dead and more than 3,600 buildings totally destroyed. Orphanages, churches, opera houses, rich homes, poor - nothing was spared. More people were killed in this single storm than have been killed in the three hundred hurricanes that have struck the United States since, combined, as of 2006. The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 remains the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history.
We'll see how it goes this Saturday. My heart goes out to the citizens of that town and all who live nearby.