My sister currently lives in Galveston -- actually, on Tiki Island, between Galveston Island & the mainland -- and when I went to a bookstore on my last visit, I was amazed at the number of books on the 1900 hurricane. The local newspaper has a short summary of the 1900 storm (and the city's recovery) in today's online edition. But at that time Galveston was the biggest port and biggest center of business in Texas ... and it lost its pre-eminence to Houston largely as a result of the 1900 hurricane. Not a good omen for New Orleans.