Hurricane damage, Galveston, USA, 1900. Woman walking through debris from the Galveston hurricane and flood of 1900. This view looks north on 19th Street. The hurricane hit Galveston on 8 September 1900. Galveston was, at the time, a major port in Texas, on the US Gulf of Mexico coastline. The hurricane, sometimes called the Great Galveston Hurricane, had winds gusting up to 217 kilometres per hour. The storm surge washed over the offshore island on which the city was built, destroying most of the buildings. It is estimated that as many as 8000 people were killed, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in the history of the USA.