1886 Indianola hurricane

The 1886 Indianola hurricane crossed the Gulf of Mexico and came ashore over Matagorda Bay, Texas, on August 20, 1886, with a 15-foot storm surge that flooded all of Indianola.¹ NHC's best track puts landfall at 1300 UTC (7 a.m. CST) on August 20 as a Category 4 hurricane with 130-knot (150 mph) winds and a central pressure of 925 mb.²

Winds had reached 72 mph at Indianola around daybreak when the Signal Service office collapsed, killing the observer.³ A lamp set the wrecked office on fire, and the fire spread to more than a block of buildings on both sides of the street despite heavy rain.³ Afterward no house in town was undamaged, most of those still standing were not fit to live in, and many others were washed away or moved off their foundations.³ Nearly 3 miles of railroad track were torn up, and more than 20 people died at Indianola, according to the Signal Service report.³ Survivors left the town as fast as they could, and it was never rebuilt.⁴

Inland at Victoria, 40 buildings, six of them churches, were destroyed, with property loss put at $100,000 in the town and county.³ Four buildings were destroyed at Corpus Christi, and numerous buildings were unroofed at Beeville and Seguin.³