Effects of the 1919 Florida Keys hurricane in Texas

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The 1919 hurricane in Texas
Surface weather analysis of the hurricane striking the Texas Coastal Bend on September 14
Category 3 major hurricane
1-minute sustained (SSHWS/NWS)
Highest winds115 mph (185 km/h)
Lowest pressure950 mbar (hPa); 28.05 inHg
Overall effects
Fatalities284 (official toll), up to 1,000 (estimated)
Damage≥$20.3 million (1919 USD)
Areas affectedSoutheast Texas, Texas Coastal Bend (especially Corpus Christi), South Texas
Part of the 1919 Atlantic hurricane season

The effects of the 1919 Florida Keys hurricane in Texas were the deadliest of any

Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale. After slowly moving ashore, it weakened and straddled the Rio Grande before dissipating on September 16 over West Texas
.

Background

Map plotting the storm's track and intensity, according to the Saffir–Simpson scale
Map key
Saffir–Simpson scale
  Tropical depression (≤38 mph, ≤62 km/h)
  Tropical storm (39–73 mph, 63–118 km/h)
  Category 1 (74–95 mph, 119–153 km/h)
  Category 2 (96–110 mph, 154–177 km/h)
  Category 3 (111–129 mph, 178–208 km/h)
  Category 4 (130–156 mph, 209–251 km/h)
  Category 5 (≥157 mph, ≥252 km/h)
  Unknown
Storm type
triangle Extratropical cyclone, remnant low, tropical disturbance, or monsoon depression

Between its establishment in 1839 and the hurricane of 1919, the city of

United States Weather Bureau, penned an article in the Caller in 1900, testifying to the immunity of the city from tropical storms by virtue of Corpus Christi's location, topography, and barrier islands. Brochures from the Texas Mexican Railway described Corpus Christi as "the only coast city of the Gulf of Mexico, between Veracruz and Florida, that is absolutely secure against inundation." Other publications also asserted Corpus Christi's invulnerability using similar arguments.[1]

Illustration of an aerial view of Corpus Christi
Map of Corpus Christi in 1887

One of the highest priorities of the Corpus Christi government in the years leading up to the 1919 hurricane was to establish a deep-water port; maritime commerce had been hamstrung by the inability of large ships to enter the Corpus Christi Bay. U.S. Representative John Nance Garner brought forth a proposal to the Army Corps of Engineers to survey and dredge a channel from Aransas Pass to Corpus Christi's wharves. A bayfront improvement plan was developed to meet government mandates for protection of the city's populace in order to proceed with the deep-water port's development, including a possible seawall. However, the high costs involved and political divisions prevented the project from proceeding promptly; by August 1919, only property valuation of lands near the proposed seawall had been conducted.[1]

The 1919 hurricane began as a

San Antonio, Texas, would not experience any inclement effects.[9]

Florida Straits
on September 10

Due to a lack of weather observations over the Gulf of Mexico, the Weather Bureau had difficulty locating and forecasting the hurricane as it approached Texas.

Storm warnings were issued for the coast of East Texas between Port Arthur and Corpus Christi by the agency on September 11, but were discontinued after the Weather Bureau erroneously suspected that the storm made landfall in Louisiana and Mississippi.[10][12][13] Acknowledging that knowledge of the storm's location was "conjectural",[11]
: 667  the Weather Bureau transmitted the following message to telegraph offices along the coast:

Regret that no radio reports were received from Gulf of Mexico during the entire day. Increasing northeast winds at mouth of Mississippi River indicate that storm is not far to southward of that locality, and we can only repeat previous messages urging great caution until further advices [on the morning of September 13]. Good night.

— Message sent from the Weather Bureau at 11:30 p.m. CT on September 12[11]: 667 

Despite showers reaching the

inHg).[16][4]

Preparations

Falling pressures in Houston—indicative of the storm's proximity—prompted an evacuation of

switch engines on September 12. These cars carried some 3 million bushels of grain along with other perishable cargo.[11]: 669 [17]: 1  Ships at the Port of Galveston remained at port with the storm looming to the east.[18] Galveston residents concurrently took refuge at hotels in Houston, with interurban service allotting additional cars hourly to facilitate their evacuation.[17]: 2  At 10:30 a.m. CDT on September 14, Charles Heckathorn, a meteorologist for Corpus Christi's Weather Bureau office, issued a warning to "direct people in exposed places to seek places of safety." City police dispatched messengers to disseminate this alert for residents north of Corpus Christi. However, not every resident received warning; communications to Incarnate Word were disrupted before warnings could be delivered. People began to flee their homes in earnest as the sea began to rise and inundate dry ground ahead of the hurricane's arrival.[19]

Impact

The 1919 hurricane caused at least $20 million in damage and 284 deaths in Texas.

Texas Panhandle towards the Oklahoma border.[10][22] Between September 14–16, several cities set 24-hour rainfall records; single-day totals reached as high as 12 in (300 mm) in George West on September 15.[10] Throughout the state in September 1919, 80 weather stations recorded a 24-hour period with more than 2.5 in (64 mm) of rain.[22]

Southeast Texas

Black and white image of waves spilling over a seawall
Waves crashing along the seawall in Galveston

The hurricane caused approximately $272,000 in damage within the Galveston district of the U.S. Weather Bureau. Along the Texas coast from Matagorda Bay to the Texas border with Louisiana, storm surge heights ranged from 4 ft (1.2 m) at Orange to 13 ft (4.0 m) at Port O'Connor, where some homes were wrecked by heavy seas; damage in Port O'Connor and Seadrift amounted to $40,000.[11]: 670  Sabine Pass along the Louisiana border experienced an 8 ft (2.4 m) surge.[10] "A few buildings" were destroyed in Seabrook along the coast of Galveston Bay, with total property damage valued at $2,000.[11]: 670  A bulkhead in Trinity Bay off Anahuac was damaged, but Anahuac itself suffered little damage from a 6-foot (1.8 m) storm tide due to its elevated position relative to the bay.[11]: 671  Washouts occurred on segments of the Gulf and Interstate Railroad near Caplen, causing an estimated $20,000 in damage.[11]: 670 

Owing to the large size of the storm, an 8.8-foot-storm-surge (2.7 m) was measured in

New Orleans, Louisiana.[10] The surge inundated low-lying areas of Galveston as well as the city's business district. At the height of the tidal increase, waters 4–5 ft (1.2–1.5 m) deep covered parts of the city south of Avenues F and G; the depth of inundation was 2–3 ft (0.61–0.91 m) north of those roads.[11]: 669  Rough surf destroyed the East End Fishing Pier and damaged a concrete embankment at 35th Street and Seawall Boulevard. Approximately 1,700 ft (520 m) of railroad along the Galveston Causeway was endangered by the washout of sand supporting the railroad; railroad and interurban service was disrupted by this damage before resuming at 5 p.m. on September 15. Two people were killed near Galveston by the storm surge; these were the only fatalities associated with the hurricane in the Galveston area. Most cattle in the city had been brought to safety before the storm, mitigating cattle losses aside from the loss of some hogs and poultry.[11]: 670  Gusts from the storm peaked at 60 mph (97 km/h) in Galveston on the morning of September 14, with an accompanying rainfall total of 2.35 in (60 mm).[20][11]: 669  In total, property damage in Galveston was estimated at $60,000 by the Weather Bureau.[11]
: 670 

Texas Coastal Bend

Panorama showing wooden buildings reduced to heaps of wooden planks along the waterfront. Other buildings remain standing and show varying degrees of damage.
Damage caused by the storm in Corpus Christi

The severity of the hurricane's impacts increased southward from Galveston. Along the Matagorda Peninsula, the storm surge was 10 ft (3.0 m) high, flooding the island and damaging agriculture. The waves and 11.1-foot-storm surge (3.4 m) dislodged timbers from docks at Port Aransas, forcing them inland where they destroyed buildings.[20][23] Five oil tanks were also destroyed, and only a school building remained standing amid the devastation in Port Aransas.[11]: 671  The steamship Median was beached onto the port's docks, while the tankers Juanita and Susquehannah were grounded well-inland.[20][11]: 671  Five people drowned at Port Aransas while attempting to evacuate on a lifeboat; another two deaths were recorded at Aransas Pass.[11]: 671  Small boats and wharves were wrought "considerable damage" at Matagorda, Palacios, and Port Lavaca; property damage in those communities totaled $140,000. Bathhouses and pavilions on the campgrounds of the Baptist Young Peoples Union in Palacios were destroyed.[11]: 670 

Corpus Christi

Scan of a newspaper
Front page of The Seattle Star reporting on the hurricane's devastation two days after its Texas landfall

The hurricane exacted its greatest toll on Corpus Christi and the city's immediate vicinity. Nearly all of the 284 verified fatalities were residents of Corpus Christi; 57 bodies were recovered in the city proper while 121 were found at nearby White Point, the highest death toll of any locality from the hurricane.

The Houston Post reported a "conservative estimate" of $20 million for the total monetary loss from Corpus Christi, approximated by "prominent business men and other trained observers".[11]: 671  Squalls from the hurricane began to impact the city on September 12,[6][24] and the Gulf waters continued to rise until the storm passed on September 14.[19] Corpus Christi was positioned within the right-front quadrant of the hurricane as it made landfall, which typically contains the storm's strongest winds and highest storm surge.[10][20] Winds ranging between 70–110 mph (110–180 km/h) buffeted the city for roughly 17 hours between September 14–15, accompanied by a 16-foot (4.9 m) storm surge—the highest on record in Corpus Christi's history.[1][20][2] The surge submerged some areas under 15 ft (4.6 m) of water.[11]
: 670 

The hurricane destroyed over 900 buildings in and around Corpus Christi.

Beach erosion carved a new coastline 50–200 ft (15–61 m) inland between North Beach and Caroll Street.[11]: 670  Bluffs along Corpus Christi Bay near Corpus Christi and Portland recessed as far as 100 ft (30 m).[25] Catastrophic damage occurred in downtown Corpus Christi where flooding reached a maximum depth of 11.5 ft (3.5 m).[2] Industrial and public plants along a six-block stretch of the downtown waterfront were destroyed. Beyond the immediate waterfront, the Houston Post reported that "every commercial establishment's first floor was wrecked, and in some cases the entire building rendered useless, over a corresponding area two blocks wide."[11]: 670  Floodwaters maintained a depth of 8–9 ft (2.4–2.7 m) in some of the buildings that remained standing.[21] The surge deposited debris en masse in the downtown district, including 1,400 bales of cotton as well as large lumber reserves; piles of debris reached as high as 16 ft (4.9 m).[2]

Lower Rio Grande Valley

Rio Grande Valley, damaging a few buildings.[10] Open cotton in southern and southwestern counties was blown out by the winds. Rains from the hurricane between September 14–16 caused the Rio Grande to overflow its banks, with the pulse of high water beginning in Eagle Pass on September 17 and persisting downstream at Mission to September 30.[22][26] For upstream portions of the flood, the river rose over two distinct periods, while downstream segments of the river experienced a single, continuous flood event. The severity of the flood was unprecedented for the Rio Grande, with the Monthly Weather Review reporting that the river expanded to a width of 40–50 mi (64–80 km). At Eagle Pass, the Rio Grande rose 27.2 ft (8.3 m) in 24 hours, and at Laredo, it rose 18 ft (5.5 m) in 24 hours.[26] River flooding damaged unharvested crops and delayed the harvest of fall vegetable crops in the lower Rio Grande Valley. One person was killed in Eagle Pass, where the Rio Grande reached a peak stage of 38.5 ft (11.7 m).[22]

Inland Texas

The San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf Railroad was washed out west of Odem, Texas. Winds destroyed summer houses and the cotton crop in Victoria, Texas. In San Antonio, the air pressure bottomed out at 998 mbar (hPa; 29.48 inHg) and winds reached 34 mph (55 km/h).[20] Heavy rainfall caused flooding along the lower Colorado, Guadalupe, and Nueces River, with a quick rise inflicted on the Brazos River.[22]

Aftermath

Oblique view of the front of a courthouse
The Nueces County courthouse served as a morgue.

Gordon Boone, the mayor of Corpus Christi, enacted

Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale during his directorship.[2]

The camaraderie in the hurricane's aftermath between Boone and Miller, once political rivals, led to a resumption of the city's push to build a deep-water port. A special meeting was convened two weeks after the storm between Boone, Miller, and U.S. Representative

Congress to funnel aid to Corpus Christi and to coax consideration of Corpus Christi as the site of a new deep-water port in the western Gulf.[1] Despite the pledged seawall and financial backing from Bee, the proposal was dropped in favor of a riprap-topped breakwater 4–5 ft (1.2–1.5 m) above sea level extending 2,000 ft (610 m) out from the shoreline. City leaders prioritized the promise of a new harbor, and substituting the original seawall proposal for a breakwater would free up over $2 million towards the harbor effort.[27] A bill was unanimously passed within the Texas legislature in March 1921 to supply state funding for the construction for the breakwater. In 1922, the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors selected Corpus Christi as the site of a new port.[21] On the seventh anniversary of the 1919 hurricane, a large party was held in celebration of the newly built deep-water port, with politicians and the press from across the country in attendance. The port's construction was billed as "Corpus Christi's destiny," transforming the city into a commercial hub for South Texas.[1]

A 12,000-foot-long (3,700 m) seawall was constructed in Corpus Christi in response to the hurricane's devastation. The seawall was primarily made of reinforced concrete and supported by timber and steel sheet pilings. The seawall was named a Texas Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1988.[28]

See also

References

Citations
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h O'Rear (2005), pp. 316–330.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "The Hurricane of 1919". NWS Corpus Christi. Corpus Christi, Texas: National Weather Service Corpus Christi, Texas. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
  3. ^ O'Rear (2005), p. 331.
  4. ^ a b c d "Atlantic hurricane best track (HURDAT version 2)" (Database). United States National Hurricane Center. April 5, 2023. Retrieved April 29, 2024. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  5. ^ "Caribbean Storm Is Not Expected to Reach Gulf". The Houston Post. Vol. 35, no. 155. Houston, Texas. September 6, 1919. p. 1. Retrieved June 6, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h O'Rear (2009), pp. 95–98.
  7. ^ Mitchell, Alexander J. (September 1919). "Florida Section" (PDF). Climatological Data. 23 (9). Jacksonville, Florida: United States Weather Bureau: 72. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 5, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  8. ISBN 9780807858097
    .
  9. ^ "Hurricane Not To Be Felt Here". San Antonio Evening News. Vol. 2, no. 6. San Antonio, Texas. September 10, 1919. p. 14. Retrieved June 6, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Roth, p. 38.
  11. ^
    doi:10.1175/1520-0493(1919)47<664:WWS>2.0.CO;2. Retrieved June 4, 2020. Open access icon
  12. ^ "Warnings Sent Out for East Texas Coast". The Paris Morning News. No. 95. Paris, Texas. Associated Press. September 12, 1919. Retrieved June 6, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Warnings Up As Hurricane Is Headed Toward Coast Of Texas". El Paso Herald. El Paso, Texas. Associated Press. September 12, 1919. p. 1. Retrieved June 6, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "East Louisiana Coast Probably to Receive Storm, Says Bureau". The Galveston Daily News. Galveston, Texas. September 13, 1919. p. 1. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  15. ^ "Gulf Storm Seems To Have About Spent Its Force Outside Texas". The Paris Morning News. No. 6. Paris, Texas. Associated Press. p. 1. Retrieved June 6, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ a b Ehrlich, Allison (September 13, 2019). "Corpus Christi's 1919 hurricane brought destruction, but reshaped the city for the future". Caller Times. Corpus Christi, Texas: Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  17. ^ a b "Storm Is Still Hiding In Gulf". The Houston Post. Vol. 35, no. 162. Houston, Texas. Associated Press. September 13, 1919. pp. 1–2. Retrieved June 6, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Port of Galveston". The Houston Post. Vol. 35, no. 162. Houston, Texas. September 13, 1919. p. 15. Retrieved June 6, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ a b O'Rear (2005), pp. 332–334.
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h i Roth, p. 39.
  21. ^ a b c d e f g O'Rear (2005), pp. 335–342.
  22. ^ a b c d e Bunnemeyer, Bernard (September 1919). "Climatology Data: Texas Section" (PDF). Climatological Data. 24 (9). Houston, Texas: United States Weather Bureau: 99, 108. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 29, 2020. Retrieved February 29, 2020 – via National Centers for Environmental Information.
  23. ^ Morton and Paine, p. 21.
  24. ^ "Squalls at Corpus Christi". The Austin American. Austin, Texas. Associated Press. September 13, 1919. p. 2. Retrieved June 6, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ a b Morton and Paine, p. 52.
  26. ^
    doi:10.1175/1520-0493(1919)47<674:RAFS>2.0.CO;2. Retrieved June 8, 2020. Open access icon
  27. ^ O'Rear (2017), pp. 7–8.
  28. doi:10.1061/40594(265)53
    . Retrieved June 4, 2020. (subscription required)
Sources
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