Galveston Disappears (Temporarily)…

Back at the turn of the century (the 20th century) — a great and bustling seaport thrived on the Texas coastline.  This city was one of the richest in the nation… and was primed to be one of the most important American cities as the nation continued to become an industrial might.

Then a hurricane came.  And everything changed.

The city was Galveston — and back in 1900, the city… and to some extent, the nation’s history took a detour.  Weather officials in Galveston largely ignored telegraph reports coming out of Cuba saying that a large storm was heading into the Gulf.  Without much warning, folks in Galveston went about their daily lives.  But then one night, the water started to rise.  And rise.  And rise.

Before residents could leave, the only bridge to the mainland was washed out.  The storm surge topped 20 feet.  More than 6,000 people drowned because the island they lived on temporarily disappeared.  The land went away.

So what did Galveston do???  It’s actually an amazing story I was fortunate enough to cover during the city’s 100 year commemoration of the “Great Hurricane” (while I was working in San Antonio).  All buildings left standing were literally put on stilts and raised several feet.  City leaders pumped in dirt and fill from the Gulf and nearby bay… and in essence raised the elevation of Galveston some 8-10 feet.  It took years.

They then built a sea-wall to a height of around 14 feet to try and prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again.

Now… fast-forward 108 years… and we have Ike.

Ike’s storm surge — estimated to be 20 feet tonight with 20-30 foot waves crashing on top of it — may submerge Galveston for a second time.  Of course, we now have things like satellites, hurricane warnings, and high-rise buildings… so it’s hard to compare the two storms… but this is the worst-case scenario for the Houston/Galveston area.

Here’s what could happen:  Many of the people who chose to ride Ike out in Galveston may lose their lives if they can’t get into a structure higher than two stories.  Many folks who live in mobile homes or other weak structures around Houston who chose to ride Ike out may also lose their lives.  Galveston Bay — which goes inland all the way to Houston — may also see a surge of up to 20 feet… flooding much of the 4th largest city in the USA.  Other small towns on the Gulf Coast may get wiped out similarly to what happened to Biloxi, MS, in 2005.

This unfortunately could be very bad.

Let us hope and pray that somehow Ike weakens and/or moves a bit north or south so Galveston could avoid a direct hit… but as it looks in our weather office tonight… I expect to see some pictures of destruction of the Galveston area as soon as Saturday afternoon.

Hopefully history — in this case — does not repeat itself.