On the evening of Juen 26, 1957, Hurricane Audrey was roaring ashore as a much stronger hurricane than forecasters had expected...the results were disastrous...
NEW ORLEANS WEATHER BUREAU
HURRICANE WARNING AND ADVISORY NUMBER 7 AUDREY
10 PM CST JUNE 26 1957
CHANGE TO HURRICANE WARNINGS 10 PM CST O UPPER TEXAS COAST AS FAR SOUTH AS HIGH ISLAND. LOWER STORM WARNINGS EAST OF LOUISIANA TO PENSACOLA>
AT 10 PM CST...0400Z...HURRICANE AUDREY WAS CENTERED ABOUT 235 MILES SOUTH OF LAKE CHARLES LOUISIANA NEAR LATITUDE 27.0 LONGITUDE 93.5 MOVING NORTHWARD ABOUT 10 MPH. THIS MOVEMENT IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE AND THE AREA FROM HIGH ISLAND TO MORGAN CITY IS EXPECTED TO BEAR THE BRUNT OF THIS HURRICANE THURSDAY.
HIGHEST WINDS ARE ESTIMATED 100 MPH NEAR CENTER AND GALES EXTEND OUT 150 TO 200 MILES TO EAST AND NORTH OF CENTER AND 50 MILES TO THE SOUTHWEST.
TIDES ARE EXPECTED TO REACH 5 TO 9 FFET FROM HIGH ISLAND TEXAS TO MORGAN CITY LOUISIANA AND 3 TO 6 FEET ELSEWHERE FROM FREEPORT TEXAS TO BILOXI MISSISSIPPI BY LATE THURSDAY. ALL PERSONS IN LOW EXPOSED PLACES SHOULD MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND. WINDS ARE INCREASING ALONG THE UPPER TEXAS AND LOUISIANA COASTS AND WILL REACH GALE FORCE TONIGHT AND EARLY THURSDAY.
HURRICANE WARNINGS ARE DISPLAYED ALONG THE ENTIRE LOUISIANA COAST AND ON THE UPPER TEXAS COAST AS FAR SOUTH AS HIGH ISLAND AND STORM WARNINGS AT GALVESTON. THE THREAT OF HURRICANE FORCE WINDS OVER SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA HAS LESSENED CONSIDERABLY.
NEXT ADVISORY AT 4 AM CST BULLETIN AT 1 AM CST.
CONNER WEATHER BUREAU NEW ORLEANS
On the evening of Wednesday, June 26, 1957, residents of Cameron Parish in far southwestern Louisiana listened with concern to the 10 p.m. newscasts out of Port Arthur. The 10 p.m. advisory stated that the center of Hurricane Audrey was 235 miles south of Lake Charles, Louisiana with top winds of 100 mph. The advisory warned that gales extended out 200 miles to the north of the center and that tides of 5 to 9 feet above normal would affect the coast. Although the advisory urged people in low exposed places to move to higher ground, the problem was in the wording. The advisory stated that the tides would occur by “late Thursday.”
Reconnaissance during the morning of the 26th indicated that Audrey had a central pressure of 973 millibars and top winds of 100 mph. No other eye penetration was done during the afternoon or night. A radar tracking flight did indicate that the rain pattern with the hurricane had become more intense during the nighttime hours. So the hurricane forecaster did not have complete information when he put the advisory to bed before the late night news shows. Audrey was intensifying rapidly and moving faster toward the coast.
Most residents in low lying Cameron Parish heard the 4 p.m. advisory say that the hurricane was forecast to move inland late on Thursday and decided to leave early Thursday morning. Residents recalled that the news broadcasts out of Port Arthur had downplayed the situation. And the situation in Port Arthur was not as serious, but in Cameron, forty miles closer to the ocean, the situation was becoming more serious by the minute.
During the final hours between the final reconnaissance observation and landfall, Hurricane Audrey underwent explosive deepening. The actual pressure at landfall is not known for sure as no direct readings were made. Researchers extrapolated from the closest official reading at the Calcasieu Coast Guard Station 20 miles east of the landfall point just west of Cameron that the pressure at landfall may have been as low as 930 to 936 millibars! Top winds were 150 mph, making Audrey a Category Four and nearly Category Five storm, quite a different story from the Category Two hurricane that Cameron residents thought they were dealing with late that night.
Residents who stayed up that night realized that tides were rising by 2:30 a.m. and by 4:30 a.m., escape was impossible as roads were underwater. Residents who went to bed in places like Cameron awoke to water in their houses. It would begin a morning of fighting for survival for thousands of people in Cameron Parish, trying to keep from drowning or being killed by flying debris while fighting poisonous snakes and crazed animals. 390 people perished and another 190 were never heard from or found again.
NEW ORLEANS WEATHER BUREAU
HURRICANE WARNING AND ADVISORY NUMBER 7 AUDREY
10 PM CST JUNE 26 1957
CHANGE TO HURRICANE WARNINGS 10 PM CST O UPPER TEXAS COAST AS FAR SOUTH AS HIGH ISLAND. LOWER STORM WARNINGS EAST OF LOUISIANA TO PENSACOLA>
AT 10 PM CST...0400Z...HURRICANE AUDREY WAS CENTERED ABOUT 235 MILES SOUTH OF LAKE CHARLES LOUISIANA NEAR LATITUDE 27.0 LONGITUDE 93.5 MOVING NORTHWARD ABOUT 10 MPH. THIS MOVEMENT IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE AND THE AREA FROM HIGH ISLAND TO MORGAN CITY IS EXPECTED TO BEAR THE BRUNT OF THIS HURRICANE THURSDAY.
HIGHEST WINDS ARE ESTIMATED 100 MPH NEAR CENTER AND GALES EXTEND OUT 150 TO 200 MILES TO EAST AND NORTH OF CENTER AND 50 MILES TO THE SOUTHWEST.
TIDES ARE EXPECTED TO REACH 5 TO 9 FFET FROM HIGH ISLAND TEXAS TO MORGAN CITY LOUISIANA AND 3 TO 6 FEET ELSEWHERE FROM FREEPORT TEXAS TO BILOXI MISSISSIPPI BY LATE THURSDAY. ALL PERSONS IN LOW EXPOSED PLACES SHOULD MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND. WINDS ARE INCREASING ALONG THE UPPER TEXAS AND LOUISIANA COASTS AND WILL REACH GALE FORCE TONIGHT AND EARLY THURSDAY.
HURRICANE WARNINGS ARE DISPLAYED ALONG THE ENTIRE LOUISIANA COAST AND ON THE UPPER TEXAS COAST AS FAR SOUTH AS HIGH ISLAND AND STORM WARNINGS AT GALVESTON. THE THREAT OF HURRICANE FORCE WINDS OVER SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA HAS LESSENED CONSIDERABLY.
NEXT ADVISORY AT 4 AM CST BULLETIN AT 1 AM CST.
CONNER WEATHER BUREAU NEW ORLEANS
On the evening of Wednesday, June 26, 1957, residents of Cameron Parish in far southwestern Louisiana listened with concern to the 10 p.m. newscasts out of Port Arthur. The 10 p.m. advisory stated that the center of Hurricane Audrey was 235 miles south of Lake Charles, Louisiana with top winds of 100 mph. The advisory warned that gales extended out 200 miles to the north of the center and that tides of 5 to 9 feet above normal would affect the coast. Although the advisory urged people in low exposed places to move to higher ground, the problem was in the wording. The advisory stated that the tides would occur by “late Thursday.”
Reconnaissance during the morning of the 26th indicated that Audrey had a central pressure of 973 millibars and top winds of 100 mph. No other eye penetration was done during the afternoon or night. A radar tracking flight did indicate that the rain pattern with the hurricane had become more intense during the nighttime hours. So the hurricane forecaster did not have complete information when he put the advisory to bed before the late night news shows. Audrey was intensifying rapidly and moving faster toward the coast.
Most residents in low lying Cameron Parish heard the 4 p.m. advisory say that the hurricane was forecast to move inland late on Thursday and decided to leave early Thursday morning. Residents recalled that the news broadcasts out of Port Arthur had downplayed the situation. And the situation in Port Arthur was not as serious, but in Cameron, forty miles closer to the ocean, the situation was becoming more serious by the minute.
During the final hours between the final reconnaissance observation and landfall, Hurricane Audrey underwent explosive deepening. The actual pressure at landfall is not known for sure as no direct readings were made. Researchers extrapolated from the closest official reading at the Calcasieu Coast Guard Station 20 miles east of the landfall point just west of Cameron that the pressure at landfall may have been as low as 930 to 936 millibars! Top winds were 150 mph, making Audrey a Category Four and nearly Category Five storm, quite a different story from the Category Two hurricane that Cameron residents thought they were dealing with late that night.
Residents who stayed up that night realized that tides were rising by 2:30 a.m. and by 4:30 a.m., escape was impossible as roads were underwater. Residents who went to bed in places like Cameron awoke to water in their houses. It would begin a morning of fighting for survival for thousands of people in Cameron Parish, trying to keep from drowning or being killed by flying debris while fighting poisonous snakes and crazed animals. 390 people perished and another 190 were never heard from or found again.