| Summary: | The terrible tempest of wind and wave which swept over Galveston, Texas, Saturday, Sept. 8th, 1900, was perhaps the greatest natural tragedy of the century. The city, containing about 60,000 inhabitants, is situated on a low island, the shores of which are washed on the north and west by Galveston Bay and on the east and south by the Gulf of Mexico. The storm came from the West Indies, growing fiercer and more terrible as it crossed the Gulf, and about two o'clock Sunday morning reached Galveston. For twelve wild and terrible hours the winds and waves beat upon the fated city. The storm from the Gulf and the wind from the north piled the waters upon both sides of the city, and about three o'clock p. m. these waters met, submerging the entire city. The flooding of the electric light plant and the gas company's factory left the city in darkness. To go on the street was to court death. The wind-measuring instrument recorded a velocity of eighty- four miles per hour when it was blown away. The tempest left an unparalleled scene of ruin and desolation in its path. Thirteen hundred acres in the southern part of the city were swept of habitations, while almost every building in the city was damaged or destroyed. More than five thousand lives were lost, and many millions of dollars worth of property destroyed. Assistance from every direction has poured in for the thouands of destitute and homeless survivors. Even the Government of Mexico voted to send them $30,000.
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