1916 Texas hurricane

1916 Texas hurricane

Surface weather analysis of the hurricane nearing landfall upon Texas on August 18
Meteorological history
Formed	August 12, 1916 (August 12, 1916)
Dissipated	August 20, 1916 (August 20, 1916)
Category 4 major hurricane
1-minute sustained (SSHWS/NWS)
Highest winds	130 mph (215 km/h)
Lowest pressure	932 mbar (hPa); 27.52 inHg
Overall effects
Fatalities	37 (Jamaica: 17, Texas: 20)
Damage	$11.8 million (1916 USD)
Areas affected	Lesser Antilles Jamaica Cayman Islands Mexico Texas
IBTrACS
Part of the 1916 Atlantic hurricane season

The 1916 Texas hurricane was an intense and quick-moving tropical cyclone that caused widespread damage in Jamaica and South Texas in August 1916. A Category 4 hurricane upon landfall in Texas, it was the strongest tropical cyclone to strike the United States in three decades. Throughout its eight-day trek across the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, the hurricane caused 37 fatalities and inflicted $11.8 million in damage.^{[nb 1]}

Weather observations were limited for most of the storm's history, so much of its growth has been inferred from scant data analyzed by the Atlantic hurricane reanalysis project in 2008. The precursor disturbance organized into a small tropical storm by August 12, shortly before crossing the Lesser Antilles into the Caribbean Sea. The storm skirted the southern coast of Jamaica as a hurricane on August 15, killing 17 people along the way. No banana plantation was left unscathed by the hours-long onslaught of strong winds. Coconut and cocoa trees also sustained severe losses. The southern parishes saw the severest effects, incurring extensive damage to crops and buildings; damage in Jamaica amounted to $10 million (equivalent to $280 million in 2023). The storm then traversed the Yucatán Channel into the Gulf of Mexico and intensified further into the equivalent of a major hurricane on the modern-day Saffir–Simpson scale.^{[nb 2]}

On the evening of August 16, the hurricane struck southern Texas near Baffin Bay with winds of 130 mph (210 km/h). Buildings were razed at many coastal cities, the worst impacts being felt in Corpus Christi and surrounding communities. Beachfront structures were destroyed by a 9.2-foot (2.8 m) storm surge. Strong gusts and heavy rainfall spread farther inland across mainly rural sectors of southern Texas, damaging towns and their outlying agricultural districts alike. Railroads and other public utilities were disrupted across the region, with widespread power outages. Eight locations set 24-hour rainfall records; among them was Harlingen, which recorded the storm's rainfall maximum with 6 inches (150 mm) of precipitation. The deluge wrought havoc on military camps along the Mexico–United States border, forcing 30,000 garrisoned militiamen to evacuate. Aggregate property damage across Texas reached $1.8 million (equivalent to $50 million in 2023), and 20 people were killed. The hurricane quickly weakened over southwestern Texas and dissipated near New Mexico by August 20.

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