 On September 8 , 1900 , the island was struck by a devastating hurricane . This event holds the record as the United States ' deadliest natural disaster . The city was devastated , and an estimated 6 @,@ 000 to 8 @,@ 000 people on the island were killed . Following the storm , a 10 @-@ mile ( 16 km ) long , 17 foot ( 5 @.@ 2 m ) high seawall was constructed to protect the city from floods and hurricane storm surge . A team of engineers including Henry Martyn Robert ( Robert 's Rules of Order ) designed the plan to raise much of the existing city to a sufficient elevation behind a seawall so that confidence in the city could be maintained . 
 On September 8 , 1900 , the island was struck by a devastating hurricane . This event <a href='uninflect' title='1'><mark>holds</mark></a> the record as the United States <a href='null_genetive' title='2'><mark>'</mark></a>deadliest natural disaster . The city was devastated , and an estimated 6 @,@ 000 to 8 @,@ 000 people on the island <a href='uninflect' title='3'><mark>were</mark></a> killed . Following the storm , a 10 @-@ mile ( 16 km ) long , 17 foot ( 5 @.@ 2 m ) high seawall was constructed to protect the city from floods and hurricane storm surge . A team of engineers including Henry Martyn Robert ( Robert <a href='null_genetive' title='4'><mark>'s</mark></a>Rules of Order ) designed the plan to raise much of the existing city to a sufficient elevation behind a seawall so that confidence in the city could be maintained . 
On September 8 , 1900 , da island was struck by a devastating hurricane . dis event hold tdarecord as the United States  deadliest natural disaster . The city was devastated , and an estimated 6 @,@ 000 to 8 @,@ 000 dudes on the island was killed . Following thdatorm , a 10 @-@ mile ( 16 km ) long , 17 foot ( 5 @.@ 2 m ) high seawall was constructed to protect the city from floods and hurricane storm surge . A team of engineers including Henry Martyn Robert ( Robert  Rules of Order ) designed the plan to raise much of thedaisting city to a sufficient elevation behind a seawall so dat confidence in the city could be maintained .