The Deadliest Hurricane in U.S. History

On average, five hurricanes hit the U.S. coastline every three years. Of these, the U.S. from Texas to Maine experiences two major hurricanes, with winds greater than 110 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service.

But one will go down in history as the worst ever—the 1900 Galveston hurricane, a category 4 hurricane that hit Texas, with 135 mile-per-hour winds that destroyed more than 3,600 buildings.

Hurricanes are tropical cyclones—storms that rotate rapidly with a low pressure center, typically causing extremely strong winds, and thunderstorms. Death tolls over an average three-year period range anywhere between 50 to 100 people.

But the death toll for the Galveston hurricane—also referred to as the Great Storm of 1900—ranged between 6,000 to 12,000.

In fact this hurricane went on to become the worst natural disaster that the U.S. has ever seen.

After the storm was first detected on August 27, 1900, the Weather Bureau—a forerunner of the National Weather Service—reported that the storm would pass over Florida and up to New England and then rage over the Atlantic, the History Channel reports.

However this could not have been more wrong.

The storm reached Cuba as a tropical storm on September 3. It then moved to the southeast of the Gulf of Mexico on September 5, according to NOAA.

Then, it began to drastically intensify. By the time it reached Texas on September 8, the storm had turned deadly. Although the official death toll can only be estimated at between 6,000 to 12,000, the most cited number is 8,000.

Tides of 8 to 15 feet swept over Galveston Island, which according to NOAA, were the cause for most deaths. At the time, Galveston was only 8.7 feet above sea level meaning it was completely devastated by these tides.

Out of the 38,000 that lived there at the time, 10,000 were left homeless.

In the aftermath of the storm, Galveston had been obliterated.

The storm led to over $30 million in damages.

After it made landfall in Texas the cyclone turned north and raged over the Great Plains. It then swept across the Great Lakes and into New England and southeastern Canada.

It dissipated over the north Atlantic on September 15.

Although the forecasting systems into hurricane science did not become advanced until around 1940, it is believed that the error in forecasting was largely responsible for the gigantic death toll, the History Channel reported.

However, the logistical challenge of evacuating the areas would still have been huge, even if the forecast had been correct.

The Washington weather bureau had no way of accurately predicting the storm's path at the time as Weather Bureau director Willis Moore blocked telegraph reports from Cuban meteorologists due to lingering Spanish-American war tensions.

And Cuba had one of the most advanced meteorological institutions at the time.

The gigantic death toll from this hurricane taught the Weather Bureau that communication lines must be opened.

The practice of sending wireless messages across the sea became more widespread following the hurricane, the History Channel reports.

Hurricane science is now at its most advanced, meaning it is very unlikely that the U.S. would see devastation on this scale again.

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