those with eyes, ears, and brains can learn from history
Sept. 8, 1900----One of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history hit Galveston, Texas, killing over 6000 people. The destruction was so bad that it was extremely difficult to come up with a reliable number of casualties--some said that the number was closer to 12,000. If that is true, it would make 9/8/1900 the deadliest day in American history.
The storm hit Galveston with sustained winds of 115 miles per hour, making it a Category 4 hurricane. By 3:00 PM on that day, the entire island was covered in water. Link to http://www.history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&displayDate=9/8&categoryId=disaster for the complete story.
According to this account, Galveston began to rebuild almost immediately. On 10/2/1902 construction began on a massive seawall. The wall took two years to finish, was constructed of cement, steel bars, and stone, and measured 16 feet thick by 17 feet high. By 1910 the population of Galveston had grown to 36,000. In 1915 they were hit again with another Category 4 hurricane but, because of their preparedness, only 8 people died.
This story raised several questions in my mind:
1. How in the world could we have had severe hurricanes like this before global warming, and before Pres. Bush took office? I thought that the evil triumverate of Bush/Cheney/Rove created global warming, which in turn spawned killer hurricanes.
2. How in the world could Galveston have accomplished such a monumental task? There wasn't any FEMA back then to coordinate relief efforts. The federal government wasn't handing out wads of $100 bills like Halloween candy back then. We didn't have any "rhyming reverends" back then to goad the federal government into action. In fact, the people of Galveston had absolutely no resources at all to rebuild their lives. Well, no resources other than personal pride, initiative and determination. Hmmm. Imagine that!
3. What lessons could New Orleans learn from this incident? Are the Democrat leaders of New Orleans and Louisiana capable of learning these lessons? Are the people of New Orleans willing to learn these lessons? Hard questions, for sure, but they must be answered.
The storm hit Galveston with sustained winds of 115 miles per hour, making it a Category 4 hurricane. By 3:00 PM on that day, the entire island was covered in water. Link to http://www.history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&displayDate=9/8&categoryId=disaster for the complete story.
According to this account, Galveston began to rebuild almost immediately. On 10/2/1902 construction began on a massive seawall. The wall took two years to finish, was constructed of cement, steel bars, and stone, and measured 16 feet thick by 17 feet high. By 1910 the population of Galveston had grown to 36,000. In 1915 they were hit again with another Category 4 hurricane but, because of their preparedness, only 8 people died.
This story raised several questions in my mind:
1. How in the world could we have had severe hurricanes like this before global warming, and before Pres. Bush took office? I thought that the evil triumverate of Bush/Cheney/Rove created global warming, which in turn spawned killer hurricanes.
2. How in the world could Galveston have accomplished such a monumental task? There wasn't any FEMA back then to coordinate relief efforts. The federal government wasn't handing out wads of $100 bills like Halloween candy back then. We didn't have any "rhyming reverends" back then to goad the federal government into action. In fact, the people of Galveston had absolutely no resources at all to rebuild their lives. Well, no resources other than personal pride, initiative and determination. Hmmm. Imagine that!
3. What lessons could New Orleans learn from this incident? Are the Democrat leaders of New Orleans and Louisiana capable of learning these lessons? Are the people of New Orleans willing to learn these lessons? Hard questions, for sure, but they must be answered.
posted by hondo at 12:41 PM
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