THE WEST INDIAN HURRICANE OF SEPTEMBER, 1900 391 



the Atlantic coast high barometer area and favor a rapid eastward 

 advance of the area of high barometer which occupied the Northwest. 

 It was recognized that these movements would i)revent an oi)ening 

 for the'storm along a normal line of advance swid would cause it to 

 assume a westerly course over the Gulf of Mexico. The chart of the 

 6th shows that the latter assumption was the correct one, and the 

 reports of the following cla}^ failed to show a favorable opening for a 

 northward course over the middle Gulf districts. 



On the morning of the 7th the storm was central south of the 

 mouth of the Mississippi River, and reports from Gulf coast stations 

 furnished evidence of its marked strength and subsequent course. 

 But neither these reports nor those of the morning of the 8th indi- 

 cated a coordination of storm energies which would overwhelm Gal- 

 veston Island with waves of unprecedented magnitude from both the 

 Gulf and the Bay. 



The principal agent of destruction at Galveston was water from the 

 Gulf of Mexico and Galveston Bay. The wind, which doubtless ex- 

 ceeded a velocit}" of 100 miles an hour, was chiefly important as a 

 cause of the high seas. During the afternoon of the 8th, the highest 

 tide ever experienced at Galveston began to run in from the Gulf 

 ngaind the wind. This was a storm wave impelled by the advancing 

 hurricane. Simultaneously waves from Galveston Bay, driven by a 

 northerly gale, covered the inner side of the island. 



From available information it appears that the hurricane reached 

 its maximum intensity and the water its greatest depth about 8 

 p. m., 75th meridian time. After the })assage of the hurricane center 

 the wind shifted to southeast and south, the storm waves from the 

 Gulf began to subside, and the U[)heaved waters of the Ba}", meeting 

 the shifted wind, were returned to the jdace from whence the}' came. 



The geographical position and the topography of Galveston Island 

 render it, in the presence of severe storms, peculiarl}' subject to in- 

 undation. In common with ail lowdying districts on the coasts of 

 great bodies of water, it has occasionally been covered by high tides 

 wliich have been caused either ])y onshore gales of unusual severity 

 or by waves which have run ahead of the vortex of a hurricane. On 

 Se{)tember 8 l)oth of these causes contributed to the overflow of the 

 island. The storm wave from the Gulf, combined with the influence 

 of the gale which swei)t over thiil}' miles of water surface in the Bay, 

 lieaped water from both the Gulf and the Hay over the long narrow 

 strip of sand which composes Galveston Island. Tiie floods thus 



