This Day in Weather History: August 20th

After seeing a devastating hurricane just 11 years earlier, Indianola, Texas, a thriving port town, took a direct hit from the 1886 storm. A storm surge of 15 feet destroyed nearly everything in the town, while a fire resulted in additional damage. The hurricane killed 46 people in Indianola (the storm in 1875 killed nearly 400). Indianola was never rebuilt, allowing Galveston to become Texas’s main port.