Ebook: The storm of the century: tragedy, heroism, survival, and the epic true story of America's deadliest natural disaster: the great Gulf Hurricane of 1900

Underwater -- They all had plans. Looking forward ; The storm: Africa ; A reasonable argument ; Storm watcher ; The storm: from Cuba to Texas -- Maelstrom. Galveston: Thursday, September 6 ; Friday: the waves ; Saturday morning: storm tide ; Saturday afternoon: "half the city underwater" ; The night of horrors -- The white city on the beach. Telegraph silence ; The pile ; "I can begin life again, as I entered it" ; "In pity's name, in America's name" ; No tongue can tell.;In this gripping narrative history, the beloved NBC weather personality vividly brings to life the Great Gulf Hurricane of 1900, the deadliest natural disaster in American history. On the afternoon of September 8, 1900, 200-mile-per-hour winds and fifteen-foot waves slammed into Galveston, the prosperous and growing port city on Texas's Gulf Coast. By dawn the next day, when the storm had passed, the city that existed just hours before was gone. Shattered, grief-stricken survivors emerged to witness a level of destruction never before seen: 8,000 corpses littered the streets and were buried under the massive wreckage. Rushing water had lifted buildings from their foundations, smashing them into pieces, while intensive winds had upended girders and trestles, driving them through house walls and into sidewalks. In less than twenty-four hours, one storm destroyed a major American metropolis⁰́₄and awakened a nation to the terrifying power of nature. The Storm of the Century brings this legendary disaster and its aftermath into brilliant focus. No other natural disaster has ever matched the havoc caused by the awesome mix of winds, rains, and flooding that devastated this bustling metropolis and shocked a young, optimistic nation on the cusp of modernity. Exploring the impact of the disaster on a rising nation's confidence⁰́₄the pain and trauma of the loss and the determination of the response⁰́₄Al Roker illuminates both the energy and the limitations of the American Century, and of nature itself.