Hurricane Carla (1961)
| Category 5 hurricane ( SSHWS ) | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Emergence | 3rd September 1961 | |
| resolution | September 16, 1961 | |
|
Peak wind speed |
|
|
| Lowest air pressure | 931 mbar ( hPa ; 27.5 inHg ) | |
| dead | 43 direct | |
| Property damage | $ 325 million (1961) | |
|
Affected areas |
Yucatán , Texas , part of the southern central United States | |
| Season overview: 1961 Atlantic hurricane season |
||
Hurricane Carla was one of two Category 5 storms in the 1961 hurricane season . It hit the Texas coast as a Category 4 storm, becoming one of the strongest storms ever to hit the United States . Based on today's purchasing power, the storm caused damage amounting to USD 2 billion . Massive evacuations in advance made it possible to keep the number of deaths relatively low at 43.
Course of the storm
On September 3, in the western part of the Caribbean , a fault within the intertropical convergence zone developed into a tropical low pressure area. It moved northwest and turned into a tropical storm on September 5th. A hurricane developed from it on September 6th . After crossing the Yucatán peninsula as a light hurricane, Carla set course for the US Gulf Coast. Since the storm crossed the Gulf very slowly, it steadily gained strength until it reached its highest wind speed on September 11th with 280 km / h. After that, it weakened slightly, but still hit unusually hard as a Category 4 storm in Port O'Connor on land.
Effects
The storm surge reached a height of 6.7 m and penetrated up to 16 km inland in some places. Because of its large extent, the hurricane affected the entire coast of Texas and caused damage that even reached inland as far as Dallas . The pressure on reaching the coast was 931 hPa ( mbar ), which makes the hurricane the seventh strongest in the history of the United States in the 20th century .
Much damage occurred far from where Carla reached land, as Carla caused one of the largest hurricane-triggered tornado eruptions on record. An F4 tornado swept through downtown Galveston, Texas , killing several people in the process (6 to 12 deaths have been reported). Outside the protection provided by the Galveston Seawall, buildings on the island were badly damaged by the storm surge. There were also reports of damage further east to the Mississippi River delta.
As Hurricane Carla weakened, it triggered heavy rains in the Midwest .
Carla killed a total of 43 people, 31 of them in Texas . This low death toll is due to the largest peacetime evacuation in US history at the time. Half a million inhabitants fled the affected coastal areas inland. Carla caused a damage of 325 million US dollars (equivalent to 2.03 billion in 2005).
Surname
The name Carla was no longer used after the storm and was replaced by the name Carol.
Trivia
The storm was the first to be televised live. Back then, the then little-known newsman Dan Rather reported live from the Galveston Seawall during the storm.
The pop group "The Hooters" apparently alludes to the hurricane of 1961 in their song "Karla with a K": "A Hurricane it's on his way - they call it Karla, with a K."