page_title: Effects of the 1919 Florida Keys hurricane in Texas
section_title: Southeast Texas
hierarchical_section_title: Effects of the 1919 Florida Keys hurricane in Texas / Impact / Southeast Texas
caption_attribution_description: Galveston, Texas during the September Hurricane of 1919. "Storm baffled by Seawall - Murdoch Bath House"
context_page_description: The effects of the 1919 Florida Keys hurricane in Texas were the deadliest of any tropical cyclone in the Texas Coastal Bend, killing at least 284 people. The hurricane produced a widespread swath of devastation across the region, exacerbated by the large extent of its winds. The city of Corpus Christi bore the brunt of the hurricane's impacts, contributing to the largest portion of the damage toll in Texas; nearly all of the confirmed fatalities were residents of the city. The storm originated from the Leeward Islands early in September 1919 and took a generally west-northwestward course, devastating the Florida Keys en route to the Gulf of Mexico. On the afternoon of September 14, the center of the hurricane made landfall upon the Texas coast at Baffin Bay. The storm's winds were estimated at 115 mph at landfall, making it a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale. After slowly moving ashore, it weakened and straddled the Rio Grande before dissipating on September 16 over West Texas.
context_section_description: The hurricane caused approximately $272,000 in damage within the Galveston district of the U.S. Weather Bureau. Along the Texas coast from Matagorda Bay to the Texas border with Louisiana, storm surge heights ranged from 4 ft (1.2 m) at Orange to 13 ft (4.0 m) at Port O'Connor, where some homes were wrecked by heavy seas; damage in Port O'Connor and Seadrift amounted to $40,000. Sabine Pass along the Louisina border experienced an 8 ft (2.4 m) surge. "A few buildings" were destroyed in Seabrook along the coast of Galveston Bay, with total property damage valued at $2,000. A bulkhead in Trinity Bay off Anahuac was damaged, but Anahuac itself suffered little damage from a 6-foot (1.8 m) storm tide due to its elevated position relative to the bay. Washouts occurred on segments of the Gulf and Interstate Railroad near Caplen, causing an estimated $20,000 in damage.
  Owing to the large size of the storm, an 8.8-foot-storm-surge (2.7 m) was measured in Galveston while the hurricane was centered south of New Orleans, Louisiana. The surge inundated low-lying areas of Galveston as well as the city's business district. At the height of the tidal increase, waters 4–5 ft (1.2–1.5 m) deep covered parts of the city south of Avenues F and G; the depth of inundation was 2–3 ft (0.61–0.91 m) north of those roads. Rough surf destroyed the East End Fishing Pier and damaged a concrete embankment at 35th Street and Seawall Boulevard. Approximately 1,700 ft (520 m) of railroad along the Galveston Causeway was endangered by the washout of sand supporting the railroad; railroad and interurban service was disrupted by this damage before resuming at 5 p.m. on September 15. Two people were killed near Galveston by the storm surge; these were the only fatalities associated with the hurricane in the Galveston area. Most cattle in the city had been brought to safety before the storm, mitigating cattle losses aside from the loss of some hogs and poultry. Gusts from the storm peaked at 60 mph (97 km/h) in Galveston on the morning of September 14, with an accompanying rainfall total of 2.35 in (60 mm). In total, property damage in Galveston was estimated at $60,000 by the Weather Bureau.
caption: Waves crashing along the seawall in Galveston
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