Opinion: Book tells of hard choices during hurricane

Posted: Monday, February 04, 2002

I don't often get a chance to read for fun. Too many memos, too many reports, too many documents cross my desk requiring attention. By the time I read those and every newspaper I can get my hands on, I don't have the time or energy to read a book for fun.

I did manage to squeeze in a book during the Christmas break this year, "Isaac's Storm." Fascinating read. I was a little disappointed in the final chapter or two as the post-storm account was less thorough than I would have liked.

It was as if the author got to the point where he just wanted to finish the book.

I see it in student papers all the time: start strong, finish weak.

Overall, though, it is a very interesting book. It is the story of the great hurricane that wiped out Galveston the night of Sept. 8, 1900.

No one knows how many people died that night but the confirmed body count was more than 4,000, and an additional 4,000 plus were never found. It is a compelling and frightening story.

I've been fascinated by hurricanes since I was a kid. My dad was an Air Force meteorologist during the Korean War, making a living flying into Pacific typhoons. As I recall, his crew flew into 18 different hurricanes - most multiple times. Flying old beat-up World War II surplus airplanes, he had plenty of stories of ditching in the Pacific, feathering flaming engines, coming home on fumes and prayers, and being tossed about by what seemed to be supernatural forces.

Quite a storybook for a kid growing up in the suburbs. My interest peaked again in 1999 while working on an extended appointment at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi as Hurricane Brett came barreling through town. I was wise enough to weather the storm in San Antonio along with tens of thousands of other refugees. Nevertheless, I have never before or since seen the volume of rain or intensity of wind that accompanied Hurricane Brett. The bottom floor of my Ocean Boulevard hotel was completely flooded, not from the ocean's storm surge but from the intensity of rain accompanied by the hurricane force winds.

I literally could not stand up to the wind. It was amazing. The most disgusting thing I saw was at the university's library where the wind slammed birds against the windows - and they stuck. It was gross.

Of course, my experience in Corpus Christi and my dad's experiences in the Pacific were nothing compared to what the men, women, and children experienced in Galveston that night in 1900. They didn't even know the storm was coming. The first mammoth waves that broke over the beach only attracted the more adventurous.

As the strong north winds blew sea water from the bay down the streets of the island city, children young and old rolled up their pant legs and played in the rushing streams. By the time the water became too deep to play, it was too late to run. The only land-based egress from the island was three railroads; they were already underwater when the alarm sounded. The residents had no choice but to continually seek higher ground.

For most it became a choice of what to save. At first, they saved their prized possessions. Then, they saved their most precious keepsakes. Before long, they only sought to save their family members. For far too many, the choice became which family member to save.

Imagine the horror. Torrential rain pelts your face. Winds well over 100 mph beat you from behind. In the pitch darkness you struggle to dodge missiles of wood, shingles, and miscellaneous construction materials. The water continues to rise; you are already standing in the darkness with your young family on the roof of your submerged house. There is no place else to go. You know the house will eventually fail. You know the water will continue to rise. You know that when the water finally encroaches, you will have to choose which of your precious little children you will grab. What would you do?

Read "Isaac's Storm." The people are real. The choices are real. There are no heroes nor are there villains. There are only real people faced with horrific choices in an unimaginable situation.

What would you do?
