Hurricane Ike bears down on Texas and it looks like a big one. The ABC weatherman this morning superimposed an outline of the hurricane over that state; they were equal in size. Maybe comparisons will be made after the storm blows out, but I'm surprised little or no mention has been made of the Hurricane of 1900 that pretty well destroyed Galveston.
I remember reading about it a couple of times, so I went to look up some facts regarding it. Names were not hung on hurricanes then, but it maintains its reputation by being known as the Hurricane of 1900. It struck September 8, 1900 with 135 mph winds and has been cataloged as a Category 4. Best estimates figure 8,000 people were killed, so many that corpses were piled onto carts for burial at sea, but currents washed them back onto shore. Then funeral pyres were lit to burn the bodies. Free whisky was passed out to numb the emotions of work crews who had the job of collecting and piling the bodies for burning. It was the deadliest natural disaster in U. S. history.
