In September of 1900 Galveston, Texas was hit by the deadliest hurricane on record - 6000 dead - and nearly wiped from the face of the earth. Larson used meticulous research to chronicle the events leading up to and the aftermath of the storm. The story focuses on Isaac Cline, a meteorologist for the U.S. Weather Bureau. Cline finds himself in a battle against the bureaucrats at the U.S. Weather Bureau while trying to save the people of Galveston including his own family. The prevailing belief at that time was that hurricanes always travel up the east coast and never across the Gulf of Mexico (tell that to New Orleans). Because of a refusal of the bureaucrats to share information with the weather service in Cuba, storm warnings were not raised until much too late. In fact, the Bureau denied Isaac's first request to issue such a storm warning. It was only when Galveston was completely unreachable via telegraph that the Bureau became concerned. The details of the storm's deadliness are shocking and heart wrenching. The loss of life made it necessary to burn the bodies that were strewn everywhere because burial was just not possible. Isaac lost his wife to the storm and his daughter was seriously injured. The diamond pinky ring on Cline's photo on the cover was his late wife's wedding ring. Larson does an excellent job of providing the human side to this story based on letters and other written accounts by survivors and witnesses.
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