Today, September 8th, is the 116th anniversary of the United States’ deadliest natural disaster, the Galveston hurricane. As many as 12,000 may have died.
Anyone know (or want to guess without googling) what was the second worst in terms of lives lost? I only know because of research I was doing for another thread.
I know the worst fire in US history was the Great Peshtigo fire of Ocotober 8, 1871, with 1500-2500 dead. It may also be the worst fire in recorded history. It’s not very well known because it happened the same day of the Chicago fire.
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 had around 3000 killed.
My guess is another hurricane, but I couldn’t tell you which one.
On googling, it looks like the San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fire is the runner up.
Nifty bit of trivia: My great-somethingth grandparents were survivors of the 1900 Storm, having lived in Galveston from the 1830s. Probably several generations worth- I’m guessing my great-grandparents were small children, and probably my great-great grandparents were adults.
I did not know about the Peshtigo fire. The descriptions I just finished reading were frightening.
According to this article in the Sun Sentinal, The The Great Okeechobee Hurricane of 1928 was the second worst US natural disaster. I think they are wrong, because it does appear the San Francisco earthquake was worse in terms of death toll.
In any case, it is amazing to me how forgotten this hurricane really is. That’s a lot of people dying that so few remember. It’s also interesting how these three top disasters all occurred in an eighteen year span. Hope we are not overdue.
If there was a grouping of disasters with lots of fatalities in the past I wonder how much of that is due to a difference in the actual events (strength of hurricane, earthquake, etc.) or due to our ability to deal with them. I’d like to think that our current ability to predict and protect ourselves from hurricanes is significantly better now. And then you have more earthquake and fire resistant buildings, etc. On the flip side our population centers are significantly larger now.
Not to go on a rant, but what amazes me is their response to the worst natural disaster the country’s ever seen.
They built a 17 foot tall seawall and raised the entire city behind the wall up to the level of the top of the seawall to prevent a reoccurrence of that level of devastation.
None of this wailing and bitching about and for Federal Aid and other stuff, they just rolled up their sleeves and got to work. That’s the impressive part to me- not so much the level of death and destruction, but the local and state response to it.
Great book about the Galveston Hurricane written by Erik Larson -
The worst tornado in US historyalso occurred during that 28-year span (not eighteen as I mis-posted above).
695 is the official death toll from this single 219 mile(!) running twister.
There’s also a pretty good one that’s a little more mass-market written by Al Roker, and it’s from a more meteorological perspective than Larson’s book.
Thanks. Sounds good, bought it.
Yeah, I just ordered a copy too. I have already read Isaac’s Storm, which is also recommended above.
I read this and it was pretty good
Few do if they’re not from the area. Reports of the fire were dwarfed by the reports of Chicago burning down and took longer to reach the outside world.
I agree about the accounts. I remember reading about the people trying to submerge themselves in the Peshtigo river – which was barely a trickle – as a way to survive the firestorm and failing.
Was there not at least one worse natural disaster in recent times?
That hurricane is known down here in PR as the St. Phillip’s Day Hurricane (Huracán de San Felipe) and in that incarnation it’s not forgotten. Not our deadliest, but our most destructive when adjusted for the size of the economy at time of the event. Cat 5, the instruments were blown away shortly after recording >160mph winds.