Читать книгу The Great Galveston Disaster - Paul Lester - Страница 100

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Reviewing the situation it may be said that again were heard the cries of those in the wilderness of devastation asking for succor, for again, as a score of times before, Galveston and surrounding coast towns are the scenes of death and desolation. Homes razed and washed away by the waters that have claimed their occupants as victims of death and horror, has more than once been the story from the shores of the Gulf.

History is now repeating itself, and the repetition has become frequent since 1860. While severe storms sweep the Atlantic coast between the mouth of the Savannah River and the Chesapeake, still the resultant damage is far less north of Savannah and the Cape Fear River. This is because the land is higher, serving as a barrier to the encroachments of the sea, while the further south one goes, it will be found, the land is lower, increasing the liability of becoming submerged by heavy inshore winds and tidal waves.

Florida, Louisiana and Texas coast cities are but a few feet above high tide register and therefore the more subject to overflow. To compute the total loss of life and property from the storms which from time to time have devastated the coast of the Gulf of Mexico it would be found the loss of human life would extend well into the thousands, while tens of millions of dollars have been laid waste.