New-York tribune., 1906-09-29
THE WORK OF THE HURRICANE.

The route followed by the tropical cyclone
which assailed the Gulf Coast on Wednesday
night and the damage wrought by 1t are a
little better known to-day than they We're
twenty-four hours ago, although the news from
that region is still extremely incomplete. One
of the first effects of such n disturbance is to
interrupt communication by telegraph and tele
phone, and there has necessarily been much de-
lay in getting at the exact truth. 1t is now
apparent that New Orleans was just outside
the western edge of the storm track, which must
have been about a hundred miles wide. Pen
sacola fell within the eastern limit of the belt
IN which the most furious gales prevailed. and
Mobile could not have been very far from the
middle of it. While approaching the coast the
storm moved in a nearly northerly direction.
and for a time there seemed TO be chance
that it would swing out to the Atlantic Coast
and come up along the Gulf Stream. In that
case its vitality would doubtless have been
unimpaired. Fortunately, however il was di-
verted TO the northwestward, and as often hap
pens when cyclones find their way inland. its
violence was perceptbly reduced.
Three factors We're at work to make trouble
along the path Of the hurricane-the winds,
which must have attained a velocity of "a
so miles an hour; the foods, due TO the bank
ing up of sea water in bays and inlets, and
the torrents Of rain which always accompany
storms of this type. The extraordinary down
pour led to destructive Washouts Of railway
tracks, rendering necessary repairs that proba-
bly, cannot be made for less than $1.OOOOOO. 1t
IS asserted that the cotton crop has been injured
IN Alabama and Mississippi, though the misgiv-
ings which have been excited on that score may
not be fully justified. The havoc In Pensacola
seems TO have resulted more directly from the
fury of the gales. which prOstrated numerous
high buildings and drove some shipping ashore
From these causes alone the loss i'm Western
Florida may reach $5,0O0O00. Mobile seems TO
have Jared worse than Pensacola, the
business part or the city having been virtually
wrecked. That all trade should be suspended
and martial law deemed requisite viii create no
surprise. The total loss of life may not be known
with exactness for several days. New Orleans
which has a much larger population than any
other city in the SOuth-it was nearly 100000
IN 190O--was practically unharmed. Mobile in
1900 had less than 10000 inhabitants and Pen
sacola barely 1900. The chaotic situation pre-
vailing in those cities prevents any estimate of
the number who were drowned there and at
smaller places in the vicinity, but until definite
information to the contrary is received it must
be feared that many fatalities resulted.
1t is a curious coincidence to say the least
that there should have been a seismic disturb
ance in the West Indies simultaneously with
the arrival OF hurricane the Gulf Coast
Inasmuch as the storm was nearly week old
when the earthquake occurred and the shocks
were not felt in Cuba but in Porto Rico. the
connection between the TWO phenomena IS not
particularly obvious. Nevertheless. there is n
microscopic chance that they really were re-
lated At the centre OF the storm the atmOs-
pheric pressure was unusually low. Out on the
Atlantic it was very much higher. If the diff
ference had amounted TO two inches. as regis
tered by the barometer, the difference in the
weight of the air on the earth's surface in tho
TWO localities would have been about nound
10 the square inch, or five-sixths of ton TO the
sauare foot Multiply little more and II an
nears that the downward pressure in one local
ity would have been more than 100000 tons
greater 10 the square mile in one place than
In the other. Whether or not this could have