This day in history: The great Galveston Hurricane occurred on this day in 1900, killing 8000 people. As one person noted: "Not a single building on the island was left undamaged. It was the stupidest place in the world to build a city. The highest point on the island was 8.7 feet above sea level."
The book Isaac's Storm dealt with this hurricane in a very readable way.
There were some heartbreaking stories in the book:
"At St. Mary’s Orphans Asylum, 10 nuns lashed themselves to 93 small children as the water seeped up to their second-story refuge. Finally it swallowed them, drowning all except three boys who scrambled free and swam away."
and
"Convinced the storm would ebb, Cline stayed with his family in their two-story house. Before it toppled, his two oldest girls leaped out with an uncle, and Cline and his youngest daughter followed shortly after. But his pregnant wife was pulled under and drowned. Hours later, according to Larson, the surviving relatives were floating on an unhinged door, when the family retriever saw them and swam aboard. The dog sniffed each person, seemed to realize that Cline’s wife was gone, and plunged back in the water, apparently to find her. The retriever was never seen again."
No comments:
Post a Comment