A look back at Texas' worst Hurricanes

[Extremeweatherguy]

Links and info. regarding some of Texas' worst Hurricanes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Carla_%281961%29

-Hurricane Carla made landfall in Port O' Conner, TX on September 11th, 1961 (ironic that it was EXACTLY 40 years before 9/11/01).

-Carla is the 7th strongest land falling hurricane on record.

-Carla produced one of the largest tornado outbreaks in history, and spawned an F-4 tornado in downtown Galveston!

-Highest storm surge was up to 22 feet.

-Damage was reported all the way to the Mississippi river delta and all the way to Dallas (incredibly large storm).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Alicia

-Alicia killed 21 people and caused 2 billion in damages.

-millions in damages occured when gravel blew out windows on dozens of downtown Houston skyscrapers.

-Alicia had actually hit Houston as a T-storm complex days earlier, but was shunted into the Gulf, became a hurricane, and then made landfall back in Galveston/Houston less than a week later!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Audrey

-Hurricane Audrey made landfall in Sabine Pass as a Cat. 4 in 1957.

-Audrey caused over 360 deaths.

-Very similar to Rita, but winds were 25mph stronger.

-Storm surge devastated Cameron, LA (like Rita).

Also:
- In the 1940s three major hurricanes made landfall on the TX coast.
-All the storms of the 40s made landfall in the vicinity of Houston (would have been bad news had it been today).
-A major hurricane hit Galveston in 1932 (Cat. 4)
-A Cat. 3 caused 120mph winds in Galveston in August 1915. over 200 were killed. The storm probably produced 80-100+mph wind gusts in downtown Houston (but we will never know for sure).
-In 1900 a Cat. 4 hit Galveston and killed over 8,000. This storm likely caused 100-120+mph wind gusts in downtown Houston (but we will never know for sure).

***These are just a FEW of Texas' worst storms. There are many others that hit the state in the last 150 years, and even the Cat. 1-2 landfalls would have been significant. The worst decade for Texas was probably the 40s***

[hicksta]

Yea prob so, i love evacutaing =-/. 27 hours to dallas yipe!

[HouTXmetro]

I voted no, I just don't see a Hurricane directly hitting Galveston.

[Hybridstorm_November2001]

Eventually yes. In the next five years, I doubt it.

[Astro_man92]

Alicia had actually hit Houston as a T-storm complex days earlier, but was shunted into the Gulf, became a hurricane, and then made landfall back in Galveston/Houston less than a week later!

maybe it should of been called thunderstorm alice the first time round heh heh... heh ....... heh.... forget I said that

[ROCK]

I voted yes due to the fact its been awhile since since we "officially" had a major landfall and the trend of 3-4 majors the last couple of years. Came close with Rita, with Emily in extreme STX.

[ROCK]

Hey Extreme...off topic but the holidays are over.... might want to change your avatar.

[Tyler]

There is no such thing as "overdue" in Meteorology, but well, we are overdue. So why not in the next 4 years...

[Tampa Bay Hurricane]

GOM SSTAs are running high in central GOM...so there's a fair chance
of a major in the GOM making it's way over to TX, Galveston
Bay Possibly. I say Yes.

[Extremeweatherguy]

Hey Extreme...off topic but the holidays are over.... might want to change your avatar.

lol. thanks. Yeah I was just noticing that myself, I guess I will go and do that now.

[ROCK]

I am curious Extreme about the F4 to hit DT Galveston in Carla. I know Carla was a rather large storm but I seem to have read that anything above a F3 spawned by a TS is a rare occurence.

[southerngale]

I didn't vote because I have no idea how to vote. I don't believe in overdue. Galveston could get hit every year until 2010. Each storm wouldn't know one just hit there the year before. (I don't think that will happen of course. lol)

Anyway, interesting topic. Extreme notes that the worst decade for Texas was in the 40's. I believe that was our last really active period until now. And since this active period has started, extreme Southeast Texas has been devastated by Rita (2005), major flooding from Houston eastward into Beaumont and various other areas by Allison (2001 TS), and Claudette (2003) a little further west. Of course there was Bret (1999) who hit further south in nowhere land, but several in the Central to Upper Texas Coast since this active period has started. I hope that's not a trend. Anyway, I think I'm making sense but I've been sick and I'm on medication so who knows if it's coming out right. lol

[southerngale]

Wow, just read this on the NWS site about Carla.

Worth noting was the estimated 200,000 people that evacuated the Beaumont-Port Arthur area in a six hour period as Hurricane Carla approached the Texas coast.

In 6 hours? We should be using their plan today!!

[JonathanBelles]

chinese new year aint for another week and a half

[ROCK]

Wow, just read this on the NWS site about Carla.

Worth noting was the estimated 200,000 people that evacuated the Beaumont-Port Arthur area in a six hour period as Hurricane Carla approached the Texas coast.

In 6 hours? We should be using their plan today!!

I didnt realize there was that many people living in the area back then. Wow...good plan

[Extremeweatherguy]

I am curious Extreme about the F4 to hit DT Galveston in Carla. I know Carla was a rather large storm but I seem to have read that anything above a F3 spawned by a TS is a rare occurence.

usually that is the case, but I guess Carla was different. Here is the link (same one as the one at the top of the page) that mentions it. Go to the section "landfall" and then go 2 paragraphs down and its talks about the damage away from the eyewall (which includes the F4 tornado).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Carla_%281961%29

Carla looks like she was quite an interesting storm. HUGE windfield, STRONG winds, and HIGH surge. It seems like a monster scenario.

By STRONG winds, I am referring to 175mph gusts recorded in Lavaca during Carla's landfall! WOW! That is as strong as the winds in Port Charlotte during Hurricane Charley!

[Derek Ortt]

<i>Very similar to Rita, but winds were 25mph stronger</i>

Based upon what Rita did, it seems likely that Audrey was in fact a cat 3... and I wish I had known that before landfall of Rita. Does a lot of good to know how overinflated previous hurricanes were after I already cited them as something

[Derek Ortt]

Worth noting was the estimated 200,000 people that evacuated the Beaumont-Port Arthur area in a six hour period as Hurricane Carla approached the Texas coast

Myrtle Beach did the same for Charley in 2004. All that was needed was to show the images from Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda and everyone immediately left

[Extremeweatherguy]

Here is a very interesting site showing all the Cat. 1-5 hurricanes to hit Texas between the years of 1851 and 2003. Looking at all the times Houston has been hit...it is hard to believe we have been so lucky over the last 20 years...

http://www.csc.noaa.gov/hez_tool/states/texas.html

There are at least 8 storm tracks on there that would have probably brought Downtown Houston gusts over 100mph...and at least one that probably would have brought gusts over 120mph. There are also another 15+ that probably would have brought hurricane force gusts. If you do the math...Houston should see a hurricane with gusts to 75mph+ (downtown) every 6-7 years (on average). We have not seen hurricane force gusts downtown in 23 years...WE ARE DUE (Even though there is no such thing as being "due" meteorlogically). I am just afraid that we are going to get those 3-4 storms that we have been lucky enough to escape since 1983 all in one season. Let's hope I am wrong...but Florida had been quite lucky until 2004 when it was hit multiple times (and again in 2005). Could Texas be next?

[Extremeweatherguy]

Here are a few other great sites to check out:

http://www.wxresearch.org/family/hurtex.htm

***check out that huge gap between 1983 and 1999 for major hurricanes in TX. This just proves that a more active hurricane cycle began in the late 90s. Also, look back at how frequent major storms were in the 30s and 40s.***

http://www.wxresearch.org/family/surge.htm

***seems like they forgot carla on this link, but still interesting***

http://www.wxresearch.org/family/hurtorn.htm

***wow! 115 tornados from Beulah!***

http://www.wxresearch.org/family/cathur.htm

http://www.wxresearch.org/family/gal1.htm