Hi, this is Jennifer Matarise, and this week please think about donating to people in need in both Houston and in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal, all of which are currently struggling with serious flooding.

You can do so through the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and other charities on the ground to assist victims of both disasters.

Considering what's currently going on in the Houston area,

I decided to put a break on the other episodes I'm currently working on and get out this particular

disaster. I'll go back to those after I've completed this episode. Thank you very much for

listening and welcome to disaster area. Episode 45, the Galveston Hurricane.

September 8, 1900, 6,000 to 12,000 deceased, thousands injured.

117 years ago this week, the United States was in the middle of a late summer heat wave,

so insufferable, Americans were desperate for a break.

Modern air conditioning wouldn't even be invented for another two years,

and if you wanted to go swimming, there were some lovely long swimsuits available, just as long as you didn't mind swimming while wearing wool.

And even then, wading out into the ocean meant dousing yourself in water so warm, it might as well be bathwater.

It might not do much to cool you off, but it would have to do.

Unfortunately, that warm water would also come to feed a storm that

would turn into the deadliest natural disaster to ever strike the United States. Galveston, Texas

was one of those places suffering through the heat wave, stretching from one end of the country

to the other. First settled by Europeans in 1816, the city of Galveston sits on a barrier island

which lies along the eastern coast of Texas. The Gulf of Mexico laps along its southern border,

while Galveston Bay lies at its northeast. The island of Galveston is long, low, and relatively flat,

just three miles wide, and 27 miles long.

In fact, the highest point on the island on Broadway was only 8.7 feet above sea level.

Whenever the tide would rise another foot, Galveston would lose a thousand feet of beach.

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