A hurricane in detail

Hurricanes do terrible damage and kill people even when you have days to prepare for them. In early September of 1900 when a hurricane leveled Galveston, Texas, it came as a complete surprise. The U.S. Weather Bureau at that time didn't even like to use the word hurricane for fear of frightening people.

Worse, the bureau ignored warnings coming out of Cuba because those at the top didn't trust Cubans. They chose to believe what they wanted to believe, that a minor storm was heading northeast.

Erik Larson tells us just about everything you might want to know about this hurricane in Isaac's Storm (1999). The Isaac in the title refers to Isaac Cline, the meteorologist in charge of the Galveston station. The book paints him as being as much a victim as every other resident of the city, which at that time rivaled Houston for dominance. 

Not that Isaac didn't make mistakes, one of which was believing his house would be strong enough to withstand the wind and water. This mistake cost him his wife, though miraculously he was able to save his daughters.

Another part of the drama is that Isaac's brother Joseph, also a meteorologist and jealous of Isaac's success, lived with the family and advocated flight. He was overruled.

Larson tells many other stories of heroes and victims, those who made good decisions and bad ones. The villain, if there is one, was Willis Moore, then head of the Weather Bureau. He was more interested in protecting the bureau (and himself) than in protecting American citizens, and even after the hurricane he altered history to cover his tracks. Larson sets the record straight.

Thousands died from the hurricane, and Galveston was never the same.