Without warning
Heat is probably responsible for most weather-related deaths both in the United States and over much of the world.
It is invisible and quietly takes its victims, and unlike storms that come and go quickly, heat is more of a silent killer. Thousands die in the US each year from heat and this year has been no exception with the unrelenting heat in the south and southwest.
Perhaps the most ferocious storm and biggest killer to hit the United States was the Galveston Hurricane of 1900. At that time in history the City of Galveston, Texas was the center of social and economic impact in the state. It was growing rapidly and had beat out Houston in its growing port and commerce capacity. Its population at the time was about 30,000.
On Sept. 8 a Category 4 hurricane slammed ashore without warning and destroyed over 3,000 buildings and killed an estimated 10,000 inhabitants of the city.
How could this have happened so suddenly and without warning?
Weather instruments were very primitive in those days consisting of just a barometer, an anemometer that measured wind speeds and visual sightings of clouds. The wind equipment was ripped off the building and from the damage winds were estimated at over 150 mph.
The real killer was the lack of warning, and a 15-foot storm surge that destroyed everything in its path. The highest point on the island was only nine feet above sea level so the entire island was impacted by the surge.
Before striking Texas this storm had hit the island of Cuba, doing much damage but in those days communication was difficult and storm forecasts were a guess at best.
One day before the surge, heavy rain began to fall and the winds freshened. The barometer also began a rapid fall but by then it was too late and we ended up with the deadliest weather disaster in US history.
Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, over 100 years later, killed several thousand people and even with better warnings many people did not or could not get out of the storms way and the result again was catastrophic.
Closer to home the Johnstown Flood on May 31, 1889, killed 2,209 when the South Fork Dam burst without warning and swept away over 1,600 homes. Four square miles of downtown Johnstown was completely destroyed.
Today all of these cities have been rebuilt but could it happen again?
Galveston took 10 years to rebuild and the island was raised 11 feet with sand dredged from the channel and a concrete sea wall stretches for 10 miles and serves as the longest continuous sidewalk in the country. Much of New Orleans has been reconstructed with new levees to keep the waters at bay. Johnstown had floods in 1936 and again in 1977 and much of the infrastructure is old and in decay. The flood of 1889 in Johnstown was the deadliest flood in US weather history.
Our warning systems today are much improved from the old days, however with our warmer atmosphere storms seem to be more numerous and severe. Satellite, radar and computer models give us something today that at least provide for some warning of approaching storms.
It鈥檚 important to heed those warnings and possibly stay out of harm鈥檚 way.