page_title: Hurricane Carla
section_title: Meteorological history
hierarchical_section_title: Hurricane Carla / Meteorological history
caption_attribution_description: English: Track map of Hurricane Carla of the 1961 Atlantic hurricane season. The points show the location of the storm at 6-hour intervals. The colour represents the storm's maximum sustained wind speeds as classified in the Saffir–Simpson scale (see below), and the shape of the data points represent the nature of the storm, according to the legend below. Saffir–Simpson scale Tropical depression≤38 mph≤62 km/h Category 3111–129 mph178–208 km/h Tropical storm39–73 mph63–118 km/h Category 4130–156 mph209–251 km/h Category 174–95 mph119–153 km/h Category 5≥157 mph≥252 km/h Category 296–110 mph154–177 km/h Unknown Storm type Tropical cyclone Subtropical cyclone Extratropical cyclone / Remnant low / Tropical disturbance / Monsoon depression
context_page_description: Hurricane Carla was one of two Category 5 tropical cyclones. It hit the Texas shore in the 1961 Atlantic hurricane season as a Category 4 hurricane, becoming one of the most powerful storms to ever strike the United States. Hurricane Carla was the second strongest storm to ever hit the Texas shore. The storm caused over $2 billion in damages, but because over 500,000 people who lived there moved out only 43 were killed.
context_section_description: A tropical depression started in the western Caribbean Sea on September 3 from a disturbance in the Intertropical Convergence Zone. It moved northwestward, to become Tropical Storm Carla on the 5th and Hurricane Carla on the 6th. After touching the Yucatán Peninsula as a weak hurricane, Carla moved into the Gulf of Mexico and headed for the U.S. Gulf Coast.
  As it moved slowly across the Gulf of Mexico, Carla got stronger 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 when it touched the shore 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 whole Texas shore, hurricane warnings were given, and people were moved out of their homes in low-lying areas.
caption: Storm path
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