Poetry inspired by a study of the 1900 hurricane in Galveston , Texas. It is the worst natural disaster in US history. wiping out the island as a commercial capital, sailing port and railroad hub. It was an unnamed storm, having struck before the naming tradition began. Once renown as the Newport of the West, the island was devastated by a tidal surge and hurricane that cost the lives of 12,000 people. Survivors lifted the remaining city structures and poured sand beneath them to raise them 15 feet. The new seawall was 15 feet as well and built by General Roberts, of Roberts's Rules of Order.