GENE RANDALL, CNN ANCHOR: One-hundred years ago this weekend, a surprise hurricane ravaged Galveston, Texas, killing as many as 10,000 people. The storm remains the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history, and it is being this weekend. John Zarrella is in Galveston for us -- John.</s>JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Gene, perhaps a appropriate that there is light drizzle and rain showers blowing over the Galveston, Texas area today, because it was one year ago -- 100 years ago on this very day, the day Galevestonians we're emerging from what was left of their homes, to see total devastation, 3,600 hopes and buildings destroyed, entire families washed away, and yes, an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 people dead. And now, after 100 years, for the first time, Galvestonians are really publicly acknowledging what happened in ceremonies that took place here all weekend. Just a few minutes ago, in the rain, the dedication of the Place of Remembrance, a statue of a man with his arm raised up to the sky, a woman clutching a child, emerging from the water. A wreathe placed at the site there this morning. That statue just now dedicated. People still taking pictures around it. And off the shore, a Coast Guard cutter was here as well, throwing flowers, rose pedals into the water. The festivities and these commemorative events took place last night as well here in the Galveston area. Three-thousand people gathered to sing songs at a local auditorium, and also a wreath was laid yesterday at the site where an orphanage was destroyed back in 1900. Ninety-three orphans and 10 sisters of Charity of the Incarnate were there at that orphanage when it was blown down and washed away. Only three young men, three boys, survived that terrible tragedy; 90 other orphans and the 10 sisters died. It was a horrific event, Gene, and that for the first time is really now being remembered publicly here in Galveston. This is John Zarrella, reporting live from Galveston, Texas.
Galveston Storm Being Remembered 100 Years Later