HURRICANES. The largest and most destructive storms affecting the Texas coast are the tropical cyclones that occur seasonally from late June through October. From 1818 to 1885 at least twenty-eight hurricanes struck Texas, and from 1885 through 1964 sixty-six tropical storms were recorded, about two-thirds of which were of hurricane force (with winds of more than seventy-four miles an hour). Two major hurricanes occurred in the five years from 1965 to 1970. Frequently these storms rushed inland, causing destruction and flooding in the interior, but the heaviest damage has always been to population centers along the coast.
September 8, 1900: A long-lived tropical cyclone trekked across the Caribbean and moved over Cuba. On September 4, the Galveston office of the U.S. Weather Bureau began receiving warnings from the Bureau's central office in Washington, D.C., that a tropical storm had moved northward over Cuba. The Weather Bureau forecasters had little way of knowing where the storm exactly was, and referenced climatology, preferring a storm track towards the middle Gulf coast. Conditions in the Gulf of Mexico were ripe for further strengthening of the storm. The Gulf had seen little cloud cover for several weeks, and the seas were as warm as bathwater, according to one report. The hurricane moved west-northwest towards the Texas coast. The last train to reach Galveston left Houston on the morning of the September 8 at 9:45 a.m. It found the tracks washed out, and passengers were forced to transfer to a relief train on parallel tracks to complete their journey. Even then, debris on the track kept the train's progress at a crawl. As the hurricane neared, conditions in Texas detirierated, and residents just thought it was a thunderstorm. When the hurricane made landfall, it was of category four intensity. It destroyed the city of Galveston, and led to the rise of Houston. Although damage was significant across Galveston Island, the human toll was higher. The death toll is estimated to lie between 8,000-12,000.[1][2]
July 10, 1901 - The second storm of the 1901 season made landfall in Southeast Texas as a minimal tropical storm.[3]
June 26, 1902 - The second storm of 1902 made landfall near Corpus Christi, Texas.[4]
September 30, 1905 - The third tropical storm entered Texas as a tropical depression.[5]
July 31, 1908 - The fourth tropical storm of the 1908 season formed and made landfall in Texas.
September 18, 1908 - The seventh tropical storm of the 1908 season dissipated right off the Texas coast.[6]
June 29, 1909 - The second storm of 1909 hit Texas as a Category 2 hurricane near Bronwsville, according to the "Best Track" database maintained by the National Hurricane Center. Little information on this storm is known at this time.
July 21, 1909 - The fourth storm hit near Freeport, Texas as a Category 3 hurricane; with a 10-foot (3-meter) storm surge. Damage totals came to $2 million (1909 dollars) and 41 people died.[7]
August 24, 1909 - a hurricane slammed into the Mexico and Texas area. Point Isabel, Texas was completely underwater. No one perished though.[7]
