Wasn’t That Mighty Storm: The Worst Natural Disaster in U.S. History
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Introduction
Climate change is one of the greatest threats to life and the fate of humanity in the 21st century. With so many communities impacted by hurricanes, floods, tornadoes and fires, we are inundated with the news of each new natural disaster.
It is nearly forgotten that a hurricane in 1900 known as the Great Galveston Hurricane was the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. Galveston in 1900 was in its Golden Age. The city’s position on the natural harbor of Galveston Bay in the Gulf of Mexico made it the center of finance and trade in Texas. It was one of the wealthiest cities, and one of the busiest ports, in the country. The New York Herald had dubbed it the “New York of the Gulf,” and the city was widely considered to be on its way to becoming another New Orleans or San Francisco.
But it was also built on a Gulf Coast barrier island—basically, a sandbar—with an elevation only three to eight feet above sea level. The storm grew in strength as it passed through the Caribbean, but the warnings from the world-class observatory in Cuba were blocked from the National Weather Bureau due to political prejudices stemming from the Spanish-American War.
What today would be called a Category 4 hurricane made landfall on September 8, 1900, with 145 mph winds, and a fifteen-foot storm surge rose up from the Gulf of Mexico and inundated the island. Thousands of homes were destroyed; bridges and railroad tracks were washed away. Somewhere between 8,000 and 12,000 people died. Survivors reported scenes of unimaginable horror and destruction.
The city was rebuilt with a massive, seventeen-foot seawall, which was put to the test in September of 1915, when another storm brought winds up to 120 mph and a twelve-foot storm surge. Fifty people died and many homes were destroyed. The seawall did prevent a repeat of the utter devastation of 1900, but Galveston never recovered its former glory.
The text of this folk song begins “Galveston had a seawall/to keep the water down; But the high tide from the ocean/washed water over the town.” But in 1900, Galveston—originally Galvez’ Town, after the Revolutionary War hero Bernardo de Galvez—had no seawall. A seawall had been proposed after a nearby town was destroyed, but the project was rejected in the belief that a storm would not hit the island.
One explanation for this discrepancy might be a conflation of the two storms in folk memory after the fact. It is said that for decades after the 1900 storm, the people of Galveston did not speak about it—as soldiers do not speak of war. But it may also be that the seawall overcome by the sea is not meant to be a fact, but a dramatic image, very much corresponding to the religious and prophetic sense of this ballad, and of this particular performance. This recording preserves part of an extraordinary Easter service at Darrington State Prison Farm, near Sandy Point, Texas, recorded by John A. and Alan Lomax on Easter, April 1, 1934.
See the background information to read more about the service and how the song warns us about the danger of humanity’s neglect of our relationship to nature.
Activity
- Does anyone know where Galveston is located? Project map and find Galveston: https://www.freeworldmaps.net/united-states/texas/map.html
- The first word, “Galveston,” is missing from this song, which was recorded in a Texas prison 1934.
Play the recording of “Wasn’t That a Mighty Storm”
https://kodalycollection.org/song.cfm?id=1119
- What are these men singing about? (a storm, a hurricane - given the location)
- What sort of damage does the storm bring – what imagery is provided?
- In what year was the hurricane? 1900
What today would be called a Category 4 hurricane made landfall on September 8, 1900, with 145 mph winds, and a fifteen-foot storm surge rose up from the Gulf of Mexico and inundated the island. Thousands of homes were destroyed; bridges and railroad tracks were washed away. Somewhere between 8,000 and 12,000 people died. Survivors reported scenes of unimaginable horror and destruction.
- When was the song created? 15 years later
- Why might it have taken that long for someone to create this song?
After Galveston was rebuilt with a 17-foot seawall, another hurricane with 120 mile winds and 12-foot storm surge hit in 1915. There was much less damage and only 50 people died. Perhaps only then could a singer could finally create a story about the disaster 15 years earlier.
Listen to the recording again to think about how the song helps us to remember the unimaginable loss of life. https://kodalycollection.org/song.cfm?id=1119
- How do we memorialize natural disasters today? Do you know any other disaster ballads? (The Titanic, Mining disasters, . . .)
Extension
Explore online resources for photos and articles about the Galveston Hurricane:
https://www.galvestonhistory.org/news/the-1900-storm
https://www.nps.gov/articles/galveston-hurricane-of-1900.htm
