Isaac's Storm summary

In the 1890s, scientific progress was being made, but much was still unknown. Certainly, when it came to weather, many things remained a mystery. And yet, preeminent meteorologists like Isaac Cline were starting to believe that they understood hurricanes.

Long before that, in the 1840s, the English sea captain Henry Piddington had published a series of papers followed by a book, The Horn-Book for the Law of Storms for the Indian and China Seas, that described the basic features and nature of a hurricane. It even provided other sea captains with a set of cards that allowed them to take wind readings and accurately position themselves in proximity to the center of the storm. And yet, 50 years later, there would still be much that science didn’t know about hurricanes.

When he first encountered Galveston, Isaac found an exciting, vibrantly diverse town that was on the rise in many respects. Galveston sits along the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico in southeast Texas, making it a convenient port town for trade and commerce. It also had a railway station, meaning that it could bring in travelers both by land and sea.

Isaac quickly made a name for himself as the man in charge of the local Weather Bureau station. He established himself as a smart, respected man of science, and given his fondness for fancy clothing and walking sticks, it was hard to miss him on the streets.

The problem with silencing the Cuban meteorologists is that few people are more familiar with hurricanes. You don’t live long on the island of Cuba without getting first-hand experience of tropical storms and cyclones.

One Cuban meteorologist, Julio Jover, reported some worrying signs on Friday, August 31, 1900. Barometric pressure readings were unstable, which suggested activity over the Caribbean Sea that could very well be a cyclone. Jover’s report got to the local paper, La Lucha, and the Weather Bureau station in Havana. But it seemed like yet another reason for the cable ban because there was that word: “cyclone.” If that got out it would surely cause undue panic.

Judson Palmer did come home early that afternoon. It was becoming clear that this was more than just a bad storm. This was something no one in Galveston had ever seen before. 

Palmer was the secretary of the local YMCA and, like Isaac, a central figure in the community. Once he got home, he wanted his wife and six-year-old son to go to the YMCA. It was a big, sturdy building – surely one of the safest in town. Meanwhile, he would stay and look after the house.

Galveston sits in a unique position. It lays perpendicular along the coastline at a 45-degree angle. On one side is the Gulf of Mexico, and between Galveston and the mainland is the stretch of Galveston Bay. This means that, as the winds shifted, which happened as the hurricane moved along, water could come from two directions. The wind could blow water into the city from both the Gulf and the bay, and that’s just what it did.

The key message here is: Families fought for survival as the water levels rose dramatically.

When Isaac’s home gave way, the entire structure toppled to one side. At this moment, Joseph was standing by a window and next to two of Isaac’s daughters, Allie May and Rosemary. Instinctively, Joseph grabbed the children and together they crashed through the window as the house toppled over. 

Suddenly, they were lying on top of what used to be the side of the house. The window they just crashed through was now looking down into a watery abyss. Joseph lowered the bottom half of his body through the window. He shouted for someone to grab hold of his legs, but no one did. He gave up.

Exactly how many people died that day is hard to say. The Galveston News tried to keep a tally of names. The final list, published on October 7, contained 4,263 names. Judging by census polls, there was a loss of around 6,000 people. Others suggest a number closer to 10,000. 

What’s certain is that it was deadlier than any other natural disaster the United States had seen at that time. Survivors were greeted the next morning by bodies everywhere. Some were bloated with water, others crushed under rubble, and many had been gruesomely killed by flying timber and roof shingles. There were new horrors laying, quite literally, at every step.

The year 1900 was one of scientific hubris. Steam-powered boats were defying the mighty power of winds, rivers, and oceans alike. New discoveries were being made on a regular basis. In this climate, people like Isaac Cline had confidence that the scientific consensus on matters like hurricanes couldn’t possibly be wrong.

Certainly, this hubris played a role in what happened in Galveston on September 8, 1900. But the fact remains that no one had encountered a hurricane quite like this one.