History Channel Documentaries
Isaac's Storm
TV-PG
2004 • E288 Jul 31, 2004 45mBy the summer of 1900, Galveston, Texas was one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States, and its citizens were full of optimism as the 20th century approached. One of those citizens was Isaac Cline, appointed a decade earlier to head the U.S. Weather Bureau office in Galveston. But on September 8 of that year, a Category 4 hurricane washed away most of the city and claimed more than 6,000 lives--still the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history. This documentary focuses on Isaac Cline's role in the disaster: was he (as local legend has it) a heroic figure who saved lives by warning the population to flee, or did scientific hubris prevent him from seeing the danger until it was too late?