Hurricane Carla (1961)

Carla, which began in the southwest Caribbean, came ashore on the northeast end of Matagorda Island, Texas, on the afternoon of September 11, 1961, and its eye crossed Port O'Connor and Port Lavaca before moving inland just east of Victoria.¹ NHC's best track puts landfall at 2000 UTC with sustained winds of 125 knots (144 mph), Category 4.^2,3

The surge reached 22 feet above mean sea level at the head of Lavaca Bay in Port Lavaca, the highest in Texas history, and 15 to 17 feet at Port O'Connor, Indianola, Palacios and Matagorda.¹ Tides reached 10 feet above normal from Port Aransas to Sabine Pass and 10 to 15 feet around Galveston Bay, flooding about 1.7 million acres and reaching 10 miles inland in places.¹ Texas City saw 90 percent of its homes flooded, and 3 to 4 feet of water flooded Port Arthur.⁴ Matagorda measured sustained winds of 115 mph and Victoria 110 mph, and the Port Lavaca wind gauge blew away after reading a 153 mph gust.¹ Bay City had 17.48 inches of rain and Galveston Airport 16.49 inches.¹

Port O'Connor, Palacios and Indianola were leveled, and Matagorda Island Air Force Base was almost completely destroyed.¹ In Texas, 1,915 homes and 983 businesses, farm buildings and other buildings were destroyed, 7,398 homes and 2,601 other buildings had major damage, and 43,325 homes and 13,506 other buildings had minor damage.¹ Carla spawned 8 tornadoes in Texas and 10 in Louisiana, including an F4 tornado in Galveston.¹ NWS Corpus Christi counts 46 deaths and 465 injuries.^1,3 NWS's Texas Hurricane History puts total damage in Texas at an estimated $408 million.⁴