Hurricane Celia was one of the worst hurricanes to ever hit the Texas Coast. It made landfall on this date in 1970 just north of Corpus Christi with measured sustained winds of 130 mph and wind gusts estimated to 180 mph! The storm had intensified rapidly in the hours before landfall.
The tropical wave that would eventually become Celia passed off the African coast on July 23. It reached the Lesser Antilles on July 28. Passing across the Caribbean, a closed circulation formed near the Cayman Islands on the 30th. Celia crossed the western tip of Cuba as a tropical storm, but began to intensify rapidly as it crossed through the Yucatan Channel.
The pressure fell from 990 millibars to 965 millibars in just eight hours. This intensification was reminiscent of Camille.
But the storm weakened, and by the third with the center less than 250 miles off the Texas coast, the pressure had risen back to 988 millibars. Then the storm began to deepen rapidly again and throughout the day the pressure fell 43 millibars to 945 millibars, including 26 millibars in just nine hours.
Despite the fact that the hurricane passed to the north of Corpus Christi, the city sustained severe damage as microburst winds of 160 mph raked major residential areas for an hour. The downtown area was heavily damaged. Nearly 9,000 homes were destroyed.
The storm surge at Port Aransas Beach was 9.2 feet above normal. Winds gusted to 89 mph as far inland as Del Rio, 150 miles from the coast. The damage in Texas was a record up until that time of $444.9 million. Sixteen lives were lost in Celia and 466 people were injured.
Celia is significant because of the extreme damage on the left side of the storm from wind streaks that caused tornado-like damage and the periods of rapid intensification.
It was a well behaved storm, with excellent track forecasts, however.
(--By Bill Murray)
The tropical wave that would eventually become Celia passed off the African coast on July 23. It reached the Lesser Antilles on July 28. Passing across the Caribbean, a closed circulation formed near the Cayman Islands on the 30th. Celia crossed the western tip of Cuba as a tropical storm, but began to intensify rapidly as it crossed through the Yucatan Channel.
The pressure fell from 990 millibars to 965 millibars in just eight hours. This intensification was reminiscent of Camille.
But the storm weakened, and by the third with the center less than 250 miles off the Texas coast, the pressure had risen back to 988 millibars. Then the storm began to deepen rapidly again and throughout the day the pressure fell 43 millibars to 945 millibars, including 26 millibars in just nine hours.
Despite the fact that the hurricane passed to the north of Corpus Christi, the city sustained severe damage as microburst winds of 160 mph raked major residential areas for an hour. The downtown area was heavily damaged. Nearly 9,000 homes were destroyed.
The storm surge at Port Aransas Beach was 9.2 feet above normal. Winds gusted to 89 mph as far inland as Del Rio, 150 miles from the coast. The damage in Texas was a record up until that time of $444.9 million. Sixteen lives were lost in Celia and 466 people were injured.
Celia is significant because of the extreme damage on the left side of the storm from wind streaks that caused tornado-like damage and the periods of rapid intensification.
It was a well behaved storm, with excellent track forecasts, however.
(--By Bill Murray)