The Illuminators (Team 2) 1900 Galveston Hurricane Cycle a team Assignment

The questions were posted in black and as they were addressed it was noted in blue.

2. Were people given evacuation warnings? If so, why didn’t they leave?

This could be two questions Answered in part below
3. How much notice did the city of Galveston have before the hurricane made landfall? Answered in part below

4. What effects can be caused by the raising of the island by pumping sand from the sea floor of the Gulf of Mexico? From one of the articles, it mentions that a later Hurricane caused damage to the sea floor by the movement of sand from the storm. That leads me to believe that if man pumps sea floor sand from it to build up another area, that damage or changes could occur as well.

5. What kinds of ecological effects did all the debris cause on the different spheres? Answered in part below (Karla).

6. How long did it take to clean up and rebuild? Still need research to support all that was done. General answers are below.

1. Is it possible that the storms that have been historically intense are now increasingly devastating because of our populations and place where we live have changed? Some parts addressed, but need data of population growth and distribution for support.

4. Did they not have a way or experience to predict other possible storm tracks? Answered in part below

What I don't know

1. The scenario says that the storm was tracked what were the storm tracking methods in the 1900'sAnswered in part below
2. How hurricanes are actually formed. I know this is lame but I live in Central Texas we generally see heavy rains during hurricanes. I did not grow up having to know when hurricane season is and it really is elementary weather but it has been a long time since high school. I can program robots to work through a hurricane. Answered in part below
3. More specifics about the evacuation plan and how it was implemented. Answered in part below

Karla’s

1. 
   Was the evacuation done properly? Date and time? Answered in part below
   

2. Could the massive deaths during the hurricane have been prevented? Answered in part below

3. How does a hurricane form? Answered in part below

4. Was the economy affected drastically from recreational places? (Shipping industry (of cotton)-yes)

5. Can another hurricane with category 4 or 5 be less destructive with an evacuation plan they have assigned? Part of our team problem statement to work out.


II. TEAM QUESTIONS:

From our recent interactions on individual works and from our discussions, we suggest these questions to our team list for consideration: (we can narrow down if needed)

Bobbie: Simpson (1998) discusses the tracking system in early years

“From 1891 the collection of weather reports, their analysis, and tracking of storm systems was done centrally in Washington. Warnings for coastal areas were issued to field offices where the official in charge was expected to rally the resources of the community to prepare for the impending threat and to deal with the consequences if a disaster did occur.”

And further information

Connected to Mr. Cline and his misjudgment of the severity of the storm until it was too late:

“An erudite, dedicated Weather Bureau official-in-charge at Galveston, Cline himself was swept away together with his wife, two children, and a brother, clinging to the wreckage of his residence, which collapsed in the extraordinary storm surge, and floated first into Galveston Bay, then, with shifting winds, back onto the island, a treacherous journey in which amazingly only Isaac’s wife failed to survive (Garriott 1900).”

My review of a summary report from the National Hurricane Center indicated that “the track and intensity is not fully known” but the storm was detected in the Atlantic on August 27th, near Cuba as a tropical storm on Sept.3, and moved into the Gulf on the 5th where it rapidly intensified.

It was tracked by forecasters at the US Weather Bureau office in Washington DC who “examined the amps and, using their knowledge of past hurricane behavior, expected the storm would curve along a northeasterly rack across Florida and then northward along the US east coast.” Interestingly, the Bureau “telegraphed a forecast to New Orleans at midday on September 5 stating that the storm ‘probably will be felt as far north as Norfolk [Virginia] by Thursday night [September 6] and is likely to extend over the middle Atlantic and South New England states by Friday’.” (www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/events/1900hurr.htm)

(http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshws.php)

This article has more information about the weather changes over the course of a few days from the perspective of a captain of a boat on Sept, 6th and then how Cline was given notice about a hurricane on the 7th (AM) by the weather bureau. It continues that the weather bureau was “lacking any reports from offshore” and so it “failed to recognize they had a full-fledged hurricane loose in the Gulf.” That might explain why there was confusion or a lack of preparation at the time.

Dr. Young (Secretary of the Cotton Exchange and Board of Trade) quoted as they described as the weather began to change on Sept. 8th in the Am until peak force time in afternoon.

Your responses from research make me curious about some other points.

I wonder why some thought they were not warned and others were?

Both of your answers connect to the same man. Did “higher ups” ignore what he thought?

Did people ignore what he was predicting?

Who decided that seeking shelter for the night would be okay?

Simpson (1998) notes that other storms since 1900 did not have effective evacuation plans and why. He states:

“In none of these were warnings sufficiently timely, or public awareness—much less preparedness actions—worthy of mention. Each uniquely demonstrated that the policy of generating hurricane predictions and warnings from a central (and usually remote) location simply had not worked: first, because of the limitations of communication; second, because it was impossible for meteorologists at the single source to respond sensitively to the varying character of risks from one community to another in preparing and disseminating warnings.”

It suggests that predictions and warnings should not be from a remote or one place and communities should be actively involved.

Other lithosphere changes to the barrier island and Galveston Bay inlet probably also occurred then by the storm surge that was reported at 15 feet. The 2008 (Ike) by comparison, had 12 feet and caused “underwater damage” to Galveston according to a Science Daily article

(www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081030144724.htm)

III. Team primary research assignments: * we all researched and added to other parts when we found helpful information. We added links to the team wiki also.
Birch: What was the storm’s build up and path? How was it tracked?

Joe: What did they learn from the storm to prepare for future storms?

Bobbie: How did Galveston prepare for the storm?

Karla: Damages of the storm; impact and aftermath
IV. Problem Statement(s)

(Ideas for debate and reflection)

Now that Hurricane Katrina has once again awakened us to the threat of extra strong hurricanes, your group has been called upon to conduct an Earth system analysis of the 1900 Galveston Hurricane as a case study in how to prepare for this increasingly dangerous threat from Mother Nature.

How can we use the events of the 1900 hurricane to help prepare for future disasters?

Here is my personal problem statement from my individual analysis. I based it on the scenario and task, what I had put before, and what we have been discussing and posting:

Hurricanes and storms have made massive destructions. Even though we live in a society where technology has become one important tool to view and know the location and magnitude of a hurricane, how can the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 help us prepare and evacuate if another hurricane that massive hits us again.

Photo image courtesy of Galveston and Texas History Center, Rosenberg Library.

Galveston Hurricane made destructive damage to the island the map shows the levels of destruction from the hurricane. The beachfront (the shaded portion of the city closest to the Gulf of Mexico) was completely lost. A swath of complete destruction, roughly bounded by 8th Street (east), 46th Street (west), and Avenue O (north), was the next level. Few buildings survived there. A zone of partial destruction, including the waterfront and the downtown area, occupied the innermost portion of Galveston. (GTHC, Rosenberg Library, 2003)

The hurricane being category 4 had strong winds of 130 miles per hour and 8 to 16 foot storm tides being a very destructive hurricane. After the hurricane, it left 3,500 homes and building destroyed and a death range of approximately 8,000 people. Property damage was an estimated of about 30 million dollars. Galveston builds a 16 ft. seawall to elevate the island.