Isaac's Storm

Isaac’s Storm, Erik Larson

Everyone knows about the hurricane in New Orleans, but we seldom look back at the storms that faced previous generations so this book is important to bring back the story of the worst hurricane in US history – Galveston, 1900.

The storm story revolves around Isaac Cline and the US weather service that was trying so hard to establish itself that they turned their back on the rest of the world resources.  In this case the weather service was jealous of the hurricane predictors in Cuba and were more interested in destroying the competition than listening to their warning about the storm that would finally make landfall in Galveston.

Cuban weather reports were being censored because the US weather bureau wanted to be in charge and they were not calling for a hurricane.  Isaac lived in Galveston, he was the official weather bureau agent there.  But no one really understood hurricanes and they did not think one could hit Galveston, so they were unprepared and they underestimated the signals that the clouds, wind and barometers gave out.

The book is good for understanding this classic convergence of natural forces and human error, but it is also quite good at describing the devastation and some of the personal stories that allow the reading insight into the tragedy and the terror.