Texas Hurricane History – 101 2012 TX State OEM Conference

1. Texas Hurricane History – 1012012 TX State OEM Conference Lew Fincher Hurricane Historian Galveston County Historical Commission Co-Chair National Hurricane Conference’s Hurricane History Committee Lew@HurricaneConsulting.net

2. Our Problem… • Due to the changing of the guard so to speak of local emergency managers and coordinators, much of the knowledge of local storm impact history is lost to new or future "Decision Makers." This is a very real problem in both the public and private sectors of emergency and risk management. Another question is how resilient will our local area building structures be during a direct hit by a true Category 3 Hurricane?

3. HISTORY DOES REPEAT ITSELFYes, it has, & so can Nature!! Decision Makers need to know their LOCAL Historical Hurricane Impact History To Make the Best Decisions

4. Has this ever happened before? Has this ever happened before?

5. Significantly more people live in the danger zone now than in the past

6. More industry and commercial operations that employ thousands sit near the coast, bays, or on the banks of rivers that feed into the Gulf

7. Look at the development in the major coastal basins of TexasPast hurricane impacts have been forgotten, or ignored

8. How many thousands now live in the coastal area assisted living, and nursing homes? How many of the elder citizens have no night vision?

9. How many children live in structures that cannot sustain a safe haven in a true Cat 2 Hurricane... sustained winds of between 95 – 110 mph measured at 1 mile per minute…?

10. When was the last time the different basins experienced a sustained Cat 2 Hurricane? Anyone?

11. When was the last“Major” Hurricane Landfall for our major basins? Who Has An Answer??

12. When was the last Cat 4 hurricane strike for our major basins? Anyone?

13. Texas Basin Hurricane History

14. Sabine 1886 1943 1957

15. Galveston 1818 – Jean Laffite Headquarters 1837 – The Racer’s Storm 1854 1875 -East end of Galveston was almost cut off as the “sand dissolved like sugar in water…” Went on to destroy Indianola 1900 - The big one 1909 - Just as the Seawall was being completed 1915 - Bigger than the 1900 1943 - The Surprise Hurricane

16. Brazoria County Landfall of the 1900 Storm? 1932 Hurricane – More damages in Angleton, than Freeport!

17. Matagorda THE TERRIBLE 3 1875 First Completely Tracked Tropical Cyclone; Destroyed Indianola, TX 1886 Most Powerful Storm of the 19th Century, very close to a Large Cat 5. 1961 Carla A True Monster

18. Corpus Christi 1919 1970 Celia 1999 Bret

19. Laguna Madre 1867 - One of the most powerful hurricanes to ever hit our area completely destroyed Clarksville, Texas, and Bagdad, Mexico. Brazos Santiago was underwater and Point Isabel was leveled.  Located at the mouth of the Rio Grande River, during the 1840’s-1860’s this pair of commercial powerhouses were the busiest places in the area! During the Mexican War and the Civil War the two towns were camp locations for the Army and Naval landing ports. After the storm, both became ghost towns. 1933 – A devastating hurricane hits Port Isabel and disrupts life throughout south Texas. Much of Port Isabel goes underwater, destroys all buildings etc. on Brazos Island and Boca Chica beach.

20. Laguna Madre 1967 - Hurricane BeulahAugust 10th, 1980 - Hurricane AllenSept. 16th & 17th, 1988 - Hurricane Gilbert

21. In Closing, We need to Remember The Past… 1898… President McKinley & Be Prepared For TheTropical Terrorists