Natural History
12,000 Gone in Galveston: America’s Deadliest Storm
Disasters, like politics, are local. So, ask about the baddest storm and chances are you’ll hear “Sandy” in the mid-Atlantic, “Katrina” in New Orleans, “Camille” in Mississippi, and “Andrew” in Florida. But the truth is this: America’s deadliest storm hit 50 years before storms wore official name tags. So—like the devil—this storm is summoned by many a moniker: “The Galveston Hurricane of 1900,” “The Galveston Flood,” and, in telling simplicity...