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July 27-28th, 1943: War censorship came into question during this hurricane. This storm was detected just off the Mississippi Delta on the 25th of July. It formed into a hurricane rapidly and moved inland in Chambers County. Its eye was 13 miles in diameter as it passed inland, yet the storm itself was no more than 70 miles in diameter. It was considered the worst storm in the area since 1915, and at La Porte, worse than the Galveston Hurricane of 1900.
The brunt of the storm passed over the Houston Metropolitan Area between noon and 4 P.M. (population was 600,000 at the time). Gusts above 100 m.p.h. occurred in the Galveston-Houston area. Two utility towers over the Houston Ship Channel were blown down (these were rated to withstand 120 mph winds). Four cooling towers at the Humble Oil and Refining Co. (now Exxon) were demolished as they reported wind gusts to 132 mph. The anemometer at the Metropolitan airport also saw a gust to 132 mph. Oil derricks across Chambers and Jefferson Counties met their fate during the hurricane (Fincher et. al).
Beaumont received 19.48" of rain on the 27th and 28th - establishing daily rainfall records that still stand today. Winds there gusted to 54 mph. La Porte saw over 17" of rain. Ellington Field had the pressure fall to 28.78", where 5 planes were destroyed. A number of brick business buildings and churches collapsed on Galveston Island. Winds caused much of the damage, which totalled $17 million (U.S. Army Corp of Engineers).
Due to the northerly winds across Galveston Bay, tides were extremely low. On Galveston Island, a storm surge of 6 feet was experienced. The U.S. Army Corp of Engineer's hopper dredge, Galveston, broke up on the north jetty, taking 11 lives. the tug Titan foundered between Corpus Christi and Port Neches, causing 3 more lives to be lost. Nineteen fell victim in all. This was the first storm in which aircraft reconnaissance was used; flight level was between 4000 and 9000 feet. For more on this storm, see the paper titled The 1943 "Surprise" Hurricane by Lew Fincher and Bill Read. |
