Isaac Cline was the Chief of the U.S. Weather Bureau Office in Galveston Texas. Cline knew a lot about tropical cyclones. Enough to know that one was approaching his prosperous city. But Cline and his superiors in Washington had no idea what they were dealing with. In fact, the weathermen in Washington thought that the hurricane was in a totally different location.
The Gulf of Mexico was like bath water, and the first hurricane of 1900 was drawing on the energy in those warm waters to become a monster. In less than 24 hours, it had gone from category one status to category four, with top winds of 145 mph. It was drawing a bead on the upper Texas coast.
On Saturday morning, September 8, 1900; the booming sound of huge breakers pounding the beaches of Galveston greeted the day. As conditions deteriorated that morning, a telegram was transmitted from Washington at 9:35 am that Isaac received at 10:30am. The telegram issued a storm warning for Galveston. The flag was raised at 10:35 am over the Weather Bureau office. But it was too late.
Cline sent his final message to Washington at 3:30 p.m. before the wires failed saying the Gulf was rising and that water covered half of the city. By 5 p.m., the winds had reached hurricane force. By 8 p.m., the barometer had plummeted to nearly 27.50 inches. The anemometer blew away after winds reached 100 mph. The city was inundated with a 15 foot storm surge.
The category 4 hurricane caused at least 6,000 deaths to become the most deadly natural disaster in U.S. history.
