Hurricane Carla

About Hurricane Carla

Hurricane Carla was one of two Category 5 tropical cyclones during the 1961 Atlantic hurricane season. It struck the Texas coast as a Category 4 hurricane, becoming one of the most powerful storms to ever strike the United States and the strongest ever to hit Texas. The storm caused over $2 billion (2005 US dollars) in damages, but due to the evacuation of over 500,000 residents the death toll was only 43.

A tropical depression developed in the western Caribbean Sea on September 3 from a disturbance in the Intertropical Convergence Zone. It moved northwestward, becoming a tropical storm on the 5th and a hurricane on the 6th. After skimming the Yucatán Peninsula as a weak hurricane, Carla entered the Gulf of Mexico and headed for the U.S. Gulf Coast.

As it moved slowly across the Gulf of Mexico, Carla steadily strengthened to its peak of 175 mph (280 km/h) winds (Category 5 intensity) on September 11. Just before landfall, it weakened, but Carla was still a very strong and unusually large Category 4 hurricane at its landfall between Port O'Connor and Port Lavaca, Texas, on the 11th. At the time, Carla became the largest hurricane on record in the Atlantic basin. Along the entire Texas coast, hurricane warnings were put into effect, causing a large evacuation of low-lying areas.