Caribbean Antigua reported a
severe thunderstorm passing over on August 30, with lower barometric pressures and of rain on the island. In Puerto Rico, the storm produced winds up to at
San Juan. Heavy rains fell in Cuba in association with the cyclone, including a peak 24-hour total of in the city of Santiago de Cuba. The city experienced its worst weather since 1877. The southern end of the city was submerged with about of water. Firefighters and police rescued and aided stranded residents.
St. George, a German steamer, ran aground at
Daiquirí. A telegraph from the mayor of
Trinidad, who was asking for assistance from the
U.S. occupation government, indicated that the storm destroyed all crops and left many people destitute.
United States The Great Galveston hurricane made landfall on September 8, 1900, near
Galveston, Texas. It had estimated winds of at landfall, making the cyclone a Category 4 storm on the modern day
Saffir–Simpson scale. the number most cited in official reports is 8,000, giving the storm the third-highest number of deaths of all
Atlantic hurricanes, after the
Great Hurricane of 1780 and
Hurricane Mitch in
1998. The Galveston hurricane of 1900 is the deadliest
natural disaster to strike the United States. More than
US$34 million in damage occurred throughout the United States, with about US$30 million in
Galveston County, Texas, alone. The hurricane occurred before the practice of assigning official code names to tropical storms was instituted, and thus it is commonly referred to under a variety of descriptive names. Typical names for the storm include the
Galveston hurricane of 1900, the
Great Galveston hurricane, It is often referred to by Galveston locals as the
Great Storm of 1900 or the
1900 Storm. The hurricane left "considerable damage" in the
Palm Beach area, according to
The New York Times. Many small boats were torn from their moorings and capsized. The bulkhead of the pier was washed away, while docks and several seawalls were damaged. Rainfall in the state peaked at in
Hypoluxo. High winds in
North Florida downed telegraph lines between
Jacksonville and
Pensacola. In
Mississippi, the city of
Pass Christian recorded winds of . Tides produced by the storm inundated about of railroad tracks in
Pascagoula (then known as Scranton), while a quarantine station on
Ship Island was swept away. In
Louisiana, the storm produced gale-force winds as far inland as
DeRidder and as far east as
New Orleans, with hurricane-force winds observed in
Cameron Parish. Along the coast, storm surge inundated
Johnson Bayou, while tides at some locations reached their highest level since the
1875 Indianola hurricane. Winds and storm surge caused severe damage to rice crops, with at least 25% destroyed throughout the state. The community of
Pointe à la Hache experienced a near-total loss of rice crops. Farther east, roads were flooded by storm surge in the communities of
Gretna and
Harvey near New Orleans, leaving the streets impassable via horses. Winds downed telegraph lines in the southeastern Louisiana in the vicinity of
Port Eads. but they were both later found alive.
Texas – typical scene for miles along the waterfront|alt=Floating debris surrounding a boat near Texas City Nearly all of the damage in the United States occurred in Texas, with the worst of it occurring in Galveston.
Angleton,
El Campo,
Pearland, churches, homes, hotels, and school buildings. Streets were littered with branches from
shade trees and downed electrical wires, leaving several roads completely impassable to vehicles.
Galveston {{Rquote|right|First news from Galveston just received by train that could get no closer to the bay shore than where the prairie was strewn with debris and dead bodies. About 200 corpses counted from the train. Large steamship stranded inland. Nothing could be seen of Galveston. Loss of life and property undoubtedly most appalling. Weather clear and bright here with gentle southeast wind. associated with the 1900 Galveston hurricane At the time of the 1900 hurricane, the highest point in the city of Galveston was only above sea level. The highest measured wind speed was just after 6:15 p.m. on September 8 (00:15 UTC September 9), but the Weather Bureau's
anemometer was blown off the building shortly after that measurement was recorded. Later estimates placed the hurricane at the higher Category 4 classification on the Saffir–Simpson scale. Approximately 10,000 people in the city were left homeless, out of a total population of nearly 38,000. Portrait and landscape artist
Verner Moore White who moved from Galveston the day before the hurricane and survived, had his studio and much of his portfolio destroyed. The Tremont Hotel, where hundreds of people sought refuge during the storm, was severely damaged. Three schools and
St. Mary's University were nearly destroyed. Many places of worship in the city also received severe damage or were completely demolished. The few buildings that survived, mostly solidly built mansions and houses along the
Strand District, are today maintained as tourist attractions. Early property damage estimates were placed at $25 million. The area of destruction – an area in which nothing remained standing after the storm – consisted of approximately of land and was arc-shaped, with complete demolition of structures in the west, south, and eastern portions of the city, while the north-central section of the city suffered the least amount of damage. In the immediate aftermath of the storm, a long, wall of debris was situated in the middle of the island. As severe as the damage to the city's buildings was, the death toll was even greater. Because of the destruction of the bridges to the mainland and the telegraph lines, no word of the city's destruction was able to reach the mainland at first. .|alt=A horse and buggy transporting bodies On the morning of September 9, one of the few ships at the Galveston wharfs to survive the storm, the
Pherabe, set sail and arrived in
Texas City on the western side of Galveston Bay with a group of messengers from the city. When they reached the telegraph office in Houston early on September 10, a short message was sent to Texas
Governor Joseph D. Sayers and U.S. President
William McKinley: "I have been deputized by the mayor and Citizen's Committee of Galveston to inform you that the city of Galveston is in ruins." The messengers reported an estimated five hundred dead; this was initially considered to be an exaggeration. The citizens of Houston knew a powerful storm had blown through and had prepared to provide assistance. Workers set out by rail and ship for the island almost immediately. Rescuers arrived to find the city completely destroyed. Most had
drowned or been crushed as the waves pounded the
debris that had been their homes hours earlier. A number of fatalities also occurred after strong winds turned debris into projectiles.
Midwest After moving northward from Texas into Oklahoma, the storm produced winds of near at
Oklahoma City. The extratropical remnants of the cyclone then re-intensified to the equivalence of a tropical storm and continued to strengthen, In
Illinois, particularly hard hit was the city of
Chicago, which experienced wind gusts up to . In Wisconsin, many weather stations in the northern and central portions of the state recorded at least of rainfall, including a peak total of in
Shawano. Heavy rains fell in parts of
Minnesota. The
Minneapolis–Saint Paul area recorded of precipitation over a period of 16 hours. Farther north, several washouts occurred, especially in the northern areas of the state. A bridge, along with a few train cars, were swept away during a washout in
Cold Spring. In
Michigan, the storm produced winds around at
Muskegon. Tides from Lake Michigan were the highest in several months. According to
The Times Herald, the city of
Marshall experienced "the severest windstorm of the season", which uprooted trees and damaged several buildings. Throughout the state, winds left at least $12,000 in losses to peach orchards, with many peach trees uprooted. Significant losses to apples and pears also occurred. Rough seas in
Lake Erie resulted in several maritime incidents offshore
Ohio. The
John B. Lyon, a steamer, capsized about north of
Conneaut. Fourteen out of sixteen crew members drowned. A survivor suggested that the ship being overloaded may have been a factor in its sinking. About farther north, the schooner
Dundee sank, causing at least one death. In another incident nearby, the steamer
City of Erie, with about 300 passengers aboard, was hit by a wave that swept over the
bulwarks. The engine slowed and the steamers later reached safety in Canada with no loss of lives. In
Toledo, strong winds disrupted telegraph services. Winds also blew water out of parts of the
Maumee River and
Maumee Bay to such an extent that they were impassable by vessels due to low water levels. A number of vessels were buried in mud several feet deep, while about 20 others were beached.
New York Of the many cities in New York affected by the remnants of the hurricane,
Buffalo was among the hardest hit. There, winds peaked at , downing hundreds of electrical, telegraph, and telephone wires, while numerous trees toppled and some branches fell onto roadways. An oil derrick blew away and landed on the roof of a house, crushing the roof and nearly killing the occupants. A newly built iron works building was virtually destroyed, causing a loss of about $10,000. At the
Pan-American Exposition, the storm damaged several structures, including part of the government building, while two towers were destroyed. Losses at the exposition alone were conservatively estimated at $75,000. One death occurred in Buffalo after a woman inadvertently touched a downed electrical wire obscured by debris. The rapidly moving storm was still exhibiting winds of while passing well north of New York City on September 12.
The New York Times reported that pedestrian-walking became difficult and attributed one death to the storm. A sign pole, snapped by the wind, landed on a 23-year-old man, crushing his skull and killing him instantly, while two others were knocked unconscious. Awnings and signs on many buildings broke and the canvas roofing at the Fire Department headquarters was blown off. In
Brooklyn,
The New York Times reported that trees were uprooted, signs and similar structures were blown down, and yachts were torn from moorings with some suffering severe damage. Because of the direction of the wind,
Coney Island escaped the fury of the storm, though a bathing pavilion at
Bath Beach suffered damage from wind and waves.
New England In
Connecticut, winds gusted up to about . The apple crops, already endangered by drought conditions, suffered severe damage, with
The Boston Globe noting that there was, "hardly an apple left on a tree in the entire state". In the town of
Orange, twelve large tents at a
fair were ripped. At another fair in
New Milford, fifteen tents collapsed, forcing closure of the fair. Along the coast, the storm produced abnormally high tides, with tides reaching their highest heights in six years at
Westbrook. Water reached the
bulkheads and remained there for several hours. In
Rhode Island, the storm left damage in the vicinity of
Providence. Telegraph and telephone services were interrupted, but not to such a large extent. Some small crafts in
Narragansett Bay received damage, while apple orchards experienced slight losses. Lightning produced by the storm ignited several brush fires in
Massachusetts, particularly in the southeastern portions of the state, with winds spreading the flames. In
Plymouth and other nearby towns, some residents evacuated from the fires by boat. Most cottages around the Big Long,
Gallows, and
Little Long ponds were reduced to burning coals. In
Everett, orchards in the Woodlawn section suffered complete losses of fruit. Two wooden frame building were demolished, while winds also toppled fences throughout the city. Winds damaged many telephone and electric wires in
Cambridge. A lineman sent to fix the electrical wires nearly died when a pole snapped during a fierce wind gust. Orchards in the city suffered near complete loss and many shade trees were also damaged. At least a few chimneys toppled and several others were left leaning. A bathhouse at
Harvard University lost a portion of its tin roof and its copper
cornices. At
Cape Cod, a wind speed of was observed at
Highland Light in
North Truro. Waves breached the sand dunes at multiple locations along the cape, with water sweeping across a county road at Beach Point in North Truro. A number of fishing boats sank and several fish houses received severe damage. One man drowned in a lake near
Andover while canoeing during the storm. Strong winds in
Vermont generated rough seas in
Lake Champlain. Early reports indicated that a schooner sunk near Adams Ferry with no survivors, but the vessel was later found safely anchored at
Westport, New York. According to a man near the lake, all water from the New York portion of the lake was blown to the Vermont side, crashing ashore in waves as high as . In
New Hampshire, the storm left wind damage in the city of
Nashua. Winds tore roofs off a number of buildings, with several roofs landing on the streets or telephone wires. Chimneys in each section of the city collapsed; many people narrowly escaped injury or death. In Nashua and the nearby cities of
Brookline and
Hollis, thousands of dollars in losses occurred to apple crops, described as "practically ruined". The city of
Manchester was affected by "one of the most furious windstorms which visited this city in years". Telephone and telegraph communications were nearly completely out for several hours, while windows shattered and trees snapped. Street railway traffic experienced delays. In
Maine, the storm downed trees and chimney and caused property damage in the vicinity of
Biddeford.
Canada From September 12–September 14, the extratropical remnants of the Galveston hurricane affected six
Canadian provinces, resulting in severe damage and extensive loss of life. In
Ontario, storm surge in
Lake Ontario ranged from , wreaking havoc on vessels, beaching several boats, destroying a number of boats, and setting some others adrift. Many other vessels canceled or postponed their departures. Winds reached as high as in
Toronto, breaking windows throughout the city. A fire broke out at a flour mill in
Paris, and the flames were fanned by the storm, resulting in $350,000 in damage to the mill and 50 other stores and offices. High winds downed electrical, telegraph, and telephone lines in many areas. Total crop damage in Ontario alone amounted to $1 million. Impact to crops was particularly severe at
St. Catharines, where many apple, peach, pear, and plum orchards were extensively damaged, with a loss of thousands of dollars. One person died in
Niagara Falls, when a man attempted to remove debris from a pump station, but he was swept away into
the river instead. Maximum rainfall in Canada reached 3.9 in (100 mm) in
Percé, Quebec. ==Aftermath==