Galveston 1900 (historical archive)

[JenyEliza]

You mentioned the mass burnings and I have something you might find strange but maybe even sad. July 4th there was a grass fire from fire works on the west end near Terramar subdivision. Very large grass fire so my parents decided to take pictures of it. IN the pictures are hundreds of ORBS floating around the fire. Very strange to see so many of them some large, some small. Only could be caught by digital camera. After the fire was out they all disappeared. Could these balls of light be people who were burned in mass graves??.....

Pretty creepy....pics alone gave my the willies......

Wow. I don't know what those orbs would be. I can't rule out your theory, or rule it in. I wouldn't even begin to know. But, it would be very interesting to see this pic.

Jeny

[JenyEliza]

In reading the oral histories of survivors, several of them remark that the adults in their families chopped holes in the floors of their homes to let the water in. I would think you would want to keep the water OUT.

I am no engineer, so I don't understand how this works. Can anyone explain (in easy to understand lay terms) why they would chop holes their floors??

Thanks!

Jeny (who is still studying 1900 Galveston Storm)

[Shoshana]

^ mmm no engineer here either, but I'd think if they weren't aware how bad things were going to get, they may have been thinkin if the water came in the house it would weigh it down - otherwise the house might just get pushed off the foundation... I'm assuming these houses were built pier and beam....

Hurricane #2 of 1915 took almost the exact same course (and was also a Cat 4) as the Galveston hurricane of 1900 - what saved Galveston was the seawall and the fact that they raised the average height of the land by bringing in dirt and literally jacking the houses up and reseating them higher on the new dirt.

Sept 11 has been a really bad day for hurricanes. On Sept 11, 1961 Hurricane Carla roared ashore between Port O’Connor and Port Lavaca TX. It had been a Cat 5, but it's intensity decreased right before landfall. 43 people were killed 11 in one family alone. Many many more would have died, but hundreds of thousands of people evacuated the coast. (My brother in law's family included) Carla was so strong she was still a Cat 1 when she got to Travis County (where Austin is - very much inland) Carla was the strongest hurricane to hit the Texas coast since Hurricane # 2 in 1919 which killed an estimated 600-900 people. That hurricane hit Texas on Sept 14.

In 1960 Hurricane Donna hit Florida on Sept 11 before going on to smack NC and New England with hurricane force winds. 150+ people died.

There are more ... but that's quite enough, eh?

'shana

[GalvestonDuck]

You mentioned the mass burnings and I have something you might find strange but maybe even sad. July 4th there was a grass fire from fire works on the west end near Terramar subdivision. Very large grass fire so my parents decided to take pictures of it. IN the pictures are hundreds of ORBS floating around the fire. Very strange to see so many of them some large, some small. Only could be caught by digital camera. After the fire was out they all disappeared. Could these balls of light be people who were burned in mass graves??.....

Pretty creepy....pics alone gave my the willies......

Can you share the pics?

We've had discussions about orbs before. http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=54864

I'm a skeptic, but what do I know? Maybe one day, I'll get it.

[ROCK]

You mentioned the mass burnings and I have something you might find strange but maybe even sad. July 4th there was a grass fire from fire works on the west end near Terramar subdivision. Very large grass fire so my parents decided to take pictures of it. IN the pictures are hundreds of ORBS floating around the fire. Very strange to see so many of them some large, some small. Only could be caught by digital camera. After the fire was out they all disappeared. Could these balls of light be people who were burned in mass graves??.....

Pretty creepy....pics alone gave my the willies......

Wow. I don't know what those orbs would be. I can't rule out your theory, or rule it in. I wouldn't even begin to know. But, it would be very interesting to see this pic.

Jeny

How do you copy / paste pics on here??? or do I have to email. I dont mind letting you guys see these pics. if you have a pic editor you can zoom in on these orbs and actually look at features inside them. Crazy stuff...

[GalvestonDuck]

You mentioned the mass burnings and I have something you might find strange but maybe even sad. July 4th there was a grass fire from fire works on the west end near Terramar subdivision. Very large grass fire so my parents decided to take pictures of it. IN the pictures are hundreds of ORBS floating around the fire. Very strange to see so many of them some large, some small. Only could be caught by digital camera. After the fire was out they all disappeared. Could these balls of light be people who were burned in mass graves??.....

Pretty creepy....pics alone gave my the willies......

Wow. I don't know what those orbs would be. I can't rule out your theory, or rule it in. I wouldn't even begin to know. But, it would be very interesting to see this pic.

Jeny

How do you copy / paste pics on here??? or do I have to email. I dont mind letting you guys see these pics. if you have a pic editor you can zoom in on these orbs and actually look at features inside them. Crazy stuff...

In order to paste them here, they'd need to be hosted on a site. Have you used Village Photos or ImageShack before? Or if you want, you can email them to me and I'll try to get them posted.

[amawea]

They did axe or drill holes in the floor to keep them from floating off of their foundations. One of the people they interviewed that went through the hurricane stated that was the reason.
amawea

[JenyEliza]

They did axe or drill holes in the floor to keep them from floating off of their foundations. One of the people they interviewed that went through the hurricane stated that was the reason.
amawea

I saw that part...but was hoping for a bit of an explanation (in layman's terms) as to how/why this works.

Thanks!

Jeny

[Shoshana]

They did axe or drill holes in the floor to keep them from floating off of their foundations. One of the people they interviewed that went through the hurricane stated that was the reason.
amawea

I saw that part...but was hoping for a bit of an explanation (in layman's terms) as to how/why this works.

Thanks!

Jeny

Water weighs alot. Also, house would be less likely to just float away... with water inside and out. Think of a canoe with a hole chopped in the bottom vs a floating canoe...

This only works with houses built pier and beam or on pilings. Theoretically anyway. Wouldn't help with a slab foundation. But they didn't have slab foundations there...

[Stormtrack]

I was told once by someone that after Hurricane Carla in 1961 there were houses that had floated off their foundations that were in the middle of highway 288 in Freeport, Texas.

[Petmom]

can you just put your self in the place of the people then what they must have thought does anyone know what the winds and the waves were like

It is difficult to imagine what it was like. I watched "Isaac's Storm" on the History Channel not long ago, have watched it several times and they didn't know what was coming. Or Isaac Kline thought the storm was going on the East Coast. By the time he knew, it was way too late. Just horrible.

[paweatherguy]

I think that after reading the book,he blew it not making the call,thats the feeling I got reading the book,but I am a monday morning qb.It's a very good read and Im very interested in this hurricane and appreciate all the links and things people posted.

[Petmom]

I should have added that I also read the book, a good book. The History Channel based the program on the book.

http://www.randomhouse.com/features/isaacsstorm/

[zoeyann]

I was told once by someone that after Hurricane Carla in 1961 there were houses that had floated off their foundations that were in the middle of highway 288 in Freeport, Texas.

That actually happened to two people that I know of here during Andrew. My sister's boyfriend's house actually ended up in the middle of the street. The parish told them to do something about, but they were trying to wait for the insurence company. Talk about a predicament. A guy my boyfriend knows was not as lucky his house settled at the bottom of a lake.

[JenyEliza]

I think that after reading the book,he blew it not making the call,thats the feeling I got reading the book,but I am a monday morning qb.It's a very good read and Im very interested in this hurricane and appreciate all the links and things people posted.

I'm currently reading the book. So far it is good and does give an insight to what happened.

The next 1900 Galveston book I want to read is called "A Weekend in September". Barnes and Noble didn't have a single copy in all of Atlanta when I went there last week. Guess I'll be ordering it from amazon.com.

[jimbo]

Found this link while reading up on Galveston Storm of 1900.

This link is an EXCELLENT historical archive of (hundreds and hundreds of photographs), oral histories from survivors, personal manuscripts from survivors, as well as pre-storm records. Additionally, there are sections devoted to the 1909 Hurricane and the 1915 Hurricane which hit AFTER the seawall was placed and the town raised above sea level.

I have become thoroughly engrossed in Galveston 1900 research (from historical perspectve moreso than meteorological perspective), and thought I'd share my find.

Here's the link:



Mesmerizing................My wife is yelling at me to come to bed and I can't pull muself away from the interviews

http://www.gthcenter.org/exhibits/storm ... index.html

Also, in my research, I found that there are SEVERAL pre-Storm homes still standing, and three or four of them are actually listed for sale on http://www.realtor.com

Very interesting stuff. I am hooked on studying this historic and tragic event in our nation's history.

Jeny