Isaac's Storm, a Horrible Truth

I recently watched the video on Erik Larson's book "Isaac's Storm", and I was nothing short of amazed. What was even more intense about it was the fact that Isaac Cline was known for a very long time as a hero of Galveston, although he was everything but such. I'm going to give a review of the video to go into the details of the tragedy that occurred in Galveston in 1900, to which many people are unaware of. In 1900, Galveston was a booming city that claimed to be the next "New York of the coast of Texas" to many people. It is three miles wide, twenty-seven miles long, eight feet above sea level, and was connected to the mainland at that time by only three railroad tracks, and wagon bridge. A seawall had been discussed amongst city council members, but never put into place because one man (Isaac Cline) had thought the city was virtually untouchable. Isaac was an intelligent man, having mastered meteorology (primitive as it was) and sought his doctorate degree as well. His major downfall proved to be his arrogance, thinking he knew everything about meteorology when obviously he didn't. He put 37,789 lives at risk and after the storm was over over 6,000 (1/6 Galveston's population) had perished because he wouldn't let go of his beliefs. He said that anyone who thought a major storm could hit Galveston "was a victim of absurd delusion" ; even his brother's warnings couldn't convince him to change his mind about the storm. He dismissed his brother Joseph the night before the storm hit, and even on the day that the storm made landfall despite the many warning signs that he had ignored. Either by cowardice or lack of a soul, he lied about the event that took so many lives to the National Weather Bureau saying that he had given ample warning, raised the flag, and even ran along the beach screaming for people to take shelter (which nobody recalls ever having seen). Although Isaac turned out to be quite a scoundrel, he wasn't the only one at fault. Head of the National Weather Bureau Willis Moore made a significant contribution to this mass execution as well. He sent U.S. forecasters to Cuba (Cuban meteorology was far more equipped than us since they dealt with these storms on a more regular basis) and shut off all telegraphing from them because he was as arrogant as Cline was. He also was the one who labeled Cline a "hero" after tragedy struck, fearing that the Weather Bureau would catch the blame and be held accountable for what the ultimately caused. This book/video certainly shed some new light on me, and further pushed me away from believing just any information I am spoon fed by people with agendas. It was ultimately a painful lesson to learn, but tragedies like this one happen every day and it's important that we know the truth.