Early on the morning of August 17th, a major hurricane came roaring ashore at Galveston, Texas. It brought heavy destruction to a city still struggling to recover from the devastating storm which nearly destroyed Galveston 15 years prior. This second hurricane also tested the seawall built after the first storm.
The second storm of the 1915 Atlantic hurricane season, it formed near the Cape Verde Islands around August 5th. It was tracked across the Atlantic by ship reports and struck the Leeward Islands on August 10th as a Category-1 hurricane. It brushed Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti with heavy rains and wind, then struck Jamaica head on by August 13th, causing much damage. It strengthened as it passed through the Yucatan Channel, where it sank the cargo ship Marowijne without any survivors, and headed directly toward Galveston. While it had diminished from its peak two days earlier, it still brought 130 mph (210 km/hr) winds to the Texas port city. While the seawall held, many building not protected by the wall were inundated by the storm surge. Along its path the storm killed around 400 people and caused US$50 million in damage.