Galveston Hurricane of 1915
| Category 4 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS) | |
Flooding in Galveston after the hurricane.
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| Formed | August 5, 1915 |
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| Dissipated | August 23, 1915 |
| Highest winds |
1-minute sustained: 145 mph (230 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | 940 mbar (hPa); 27.76 inHg |
| Fatalities | 400 direct |
| Damage | $50 million (1915 USD) |
| Areas affected | Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Cuba, Cayman Islands, Yucatán Peninsula, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Eastern United States, Eastern Canada |
| Part of the 1915 Atlantic hurricane season | |
The 1915 Galveston hurricane was a deadly hurricane that struck Leeward Islands, Hispaniola, Cuba and Texas, in mid August of the 1915 Atlantic hurricane season. Striking Galveston, Texas, 15 years after the 1900 Galveston Hurricane, its 21-ft (6.4-m) waves were slowed by the new Galveston Seawall but changed the beach structure: on August 17, the entire 300-ft (91.5–m) beach was eroded to become an offshore sandbar, later returning partially, but never the same. The 1915 storm caused a great deal of destruction in its path, leaving 275-400 people dead and $50 million (1915 USD, $1.2 billion 2017 USD) in damage.
A Cape Verde type hurricane, the 1915 Hurricane was detected as a tropical storm moving westward on August 5. Then it was officially observed on August 10 as a Category 1 hurricane. By that time, the storm was centered north of Barbados. On August 11, the eye of the hurricane passed south of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. A weather station in San Juan recorded a 29.60 inches of mercury (1,002 mb) pressure reading and winds up to 60 mph (97 km/h). The hurricane continued to move westward between 18 and 20 mph (29 and 32 km/h) where it brushed Haiti and made landfall in Jamaica. A barometric pressure reading of 29.68 inHg (1,005 mb) was reported in Jamaica. The 1915 hurricane then turned slightly west-northwest, brushing Cuba as it went along. Unfazed by the landfall on Jamaica, the hurricane rapidly intensified and was located near Isle of Pines, Cuba on August 14 with 145 mph (233 km/h) winds. On the 15th, the hurricane was in the central Gulf of Mexico still moving in a northwesterly direction. On August 16, the center of the storm was approaching the east coast of Texas, where the storm weakened slightly but was still a Category 4 storm. On the 17th, the hurricane made landfall southwest of Galveston, Texas. Atmospheric pressure at landfall was at 27.76 inHg (940 mb) and 135 mph (217 km/h) winds. After leaving Galveston, the weakening storm took a turn to the northeast and passed Houston as a Category 1 hurricane before dropping to tropical storm status later that day. On August 20, the dying storm passed over Missouri and the Ohio Valley before finally becoming extratropical on August 23.
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Wikipedia