Galveston+Hurricane+(1900)

= = Dan Walsh = = =What Is A Hurricane? =

Many people have witnessed and heard all about hurricanes. However, most do not really know what the definition is. NOAA says hurricanes are "an intense tropical weather system with a well defined circulation and maximum sustained 74 mph winds or higher.In the Pacific, hurricanes are called typhoons." Hurricanes are tropical cyclones with large amounts of energy that are highly destructive. Depending on where someone lives hurricanes may be named differently, like typhoons in the pacific or cyclones near the middle east. They are about 400 miles long and they are usually about 900 mb in air pressure. Hurricanes are powered by warm water and are mostly created in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, or Caribbean. They are steered by the major winds.  Hurricanes form by the tropical ocean and the atmosphere around it. All Hurricanes need warm water to start, then the winds collide with watch other and go upward. With a very steep pressure gradient the winds strengthen, making the convergence winds even stronger. These strong winds will chase each other forming the circular path. The wind then flows outward starting a cycle. Humid air begins to build up and form clouds. By now the Hurricane has formed and it is steered and strengthened by other winds. Around the center of the storm strong winds start to grow and the seas start to become violent. The winds start to spiral inwards to create a hurricane. Around ten hurricanes form a year, but only one or two hit the United States. However, the ones that do hit the United States causes huge amounts of damage. Hurricanes usually form from August to September because this is when the water is usually the warmest making it very easy to form Hurricanes.



=The Storm and its path = It began to form of the coast of Cape Verde warm waters. It quickly intensified and grew stronger then the storm took a west path toward Puerto Rico and quickly intensified thriving in the warm water. The storm hit the city of Havanna and then the tip of Florida. It was predicted to go up the Atlantic, but it continued into the Gulf of Mexico. The tropical storm became stronger in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and started to head towards Texas with little warning. Unlike most hurricanes that have been tracked this one did not go up the Atlantic it continued its north-west path heading towards the Gulf Of Mexico. Since the weather forecasting was awful the meteorologist predicted that the storm will miss Texas, so the citizens there did not even prepare for a bad hurricane. There were no evacuations or barricades that were set up to protect the citizens from the harm of the hurricane until about a few hours before, but not enough time to protect themselves from it. The United States would never think that this would ever happen, so there were no barriers that we set up already to protect the barrier island. On September 8th, 1900 the Hurricane smashed into Galveston as a Category 4 hurricane with about145mph winds. To go along with the fast winds there was a storm surge of about 15 feet. This would not be that bad, but the highest point of the island was about ten feet, so the Gulf covered th whole island and all someone could see were the houses. The eye passed directly overhead of the island, so many people left the protection of there house to see the devastation, but after a few hours the storm continued and killed many more people then it should have. This storm changed how meteorologist try to predict the hurricanes. **Aftermath of Galveston** Galveston is an sand barrier island that is about 2 miles away from the coast of Texas. It is about 35 miles long and its highest point is about ten feet above sea level. There have been almost two hundred hurricanes that hit the US since the 1900's. None have been as deadly as the one that hit Galveston in 1900. The hurricane of Galvenston was the worst natural disaster to ever hit the United States, causing the most deaths and most destruction.The storm killed more Americans than any other natural disaster. Killing more than the legendary Johnstown Flood, the San Francisco Earthquake, the 1938 New England Hurricane and the Great Chicago Fire combined.The total amount of people that the storm killed in Galveston was 8,000 to a total population of about 36,000 people, wiping out about 22% of the population. There may have been more people dead because the ocean may have drag many people out and there may have been more underneath a lll the rubble left by the storm. The stench of the dead bodies were so bad that the citizens buried the bodies in mass graves or just threw the bodies back in the ocean. There were so many dead animals people were either eating them or just throwing them back in the Gulf of Mexico. The amount of money that the storm caused was about 20 million dollars. At this time the amount of money was almost impossible to find. Even with all the demotions that were received it was still not even close to the amount that the citizens needed to rebuild. Engineers started to plan a seawall that would stretch for about ten miles. This took a few years to make but soon enough the ten foot high ten mile long structure was built, to help reduce massive storm surges again. The Storm is one that Galveston was never able to bounce bak from still to this day.

= Economical Aftermath = The position of the island on the Gulf of Mexico made it the natural harbor of Texas. Many boats would travel to the island to import goods from Texas because the position was very easy to get in and out. On top of that Galveston was known for it cotton fields, that was their main export and they made a lot of money off of it. When the storm came in ruined all of these jobs. The Hurricane was one of the worst economically devastating Hurricanes to ever hit the US. Still to this day Galveston is still trying to recover from this storm. Its cotton fields are starting to come back and they built up their ports again, but they will never be the same economically as they were before the Hurricane hit.



and the devastation it brought. || media type="custom" key="18981396"
 * media type="custom" key="19040980" ||
 * This summerizes the whole storm

Works Cited

"The 1900 Galveston Hurricane." //Weather Events://. Web. 03 June 2012. .





"The Galveston Hurricane of 1900." //The Galveston Hurricane of 1900//. Web. 03 June 2012. .

"HURRICANES." //HURRICANES//. Web. 03 June 2012. .

<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;">"NOAA FAQ." //NOAA FAQ//. Web. 03 June 2012. <http://www.aoc.noaa.gov/faq.htm>.

<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;">

<span style="background-color: initial; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt;">"Texas Almanac - The Source For All Things Texan Since 1857." //Galveston's Response to the Hurricane of 1900//. Web. 03 June 2012. <http://www.texasalmanac.com/topics/history/galvestons-response-hurricane-1900>.

<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;">"Video." //National Geographic//. Web. 03 June 2012. <http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/environment/environment-natural-disasters/hurricanes/us-galveston1900-vin/>.

<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;">