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Submitted: 6/3/15 • Approved: 12/1/15 • Last Updated: 3/24/18 • R95906-G0-S3
June 27, 1957
Photo courtesy of Bobby Cox
1957- Hurricane Audrey
This devastating hurricane developed from a tropical wave that moved across the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea during June 1957. Remaining undeveloped for that trek, the system finally began deepening over the Gulf of Mexico on the night of 24 June. The system was upgraded into a tropical depression on 25 June, as it stood stationary over the southwestern Gulf. It proceeded to develop very quickly, becoming a hurricane that day. On 26 June, as the storm began moving northward at a slow 8 km/h (5 mph), the precipitation field grew and it further intensified into a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale with winds of 169 km/h (105 mph). The hurricane’s forward motion then increased to 25 km/h (15 mph). This acceleration was accompanied by great intensification as the hurricane approached the U.S. coast. While at sea, the hurricane produced waves up to 15.2 meters (50 ft) in height. On 27 June, peak winds of 233 km/h (145 mph) were attained before Hurricane Audrey made landfall near the Texas/Louisiana border at that intensity. The hurricane pushed ashore a peak storm surge of 3.7 m (12 ft) that caused much destruction and took many lives. Storm surge of at least 1.8 m (6 ft) were experienced from Galveston, Texas to Cocodrie, Louisiana. Most of the 600 or more lives lost in relation to the hurricane were casualties of the storm surge. The water pushed many houses off their foundations and moved them many miles away. After the hurricane, most of these houses were found lining Louisiana’s Intracoastal Waterway. Other structures were simply smashed to bits. In Cameron, Louisiana, the only structure to survive the hurricane was the town’s courthouse. In fact, between 60 – 80 percent of all the homes and businesses within a 35 km (22 mi) stretch from Cameron to Grand Chenier were fully destroyed or badly damaged. More than 370 residents of this town perished when the storm surge pushed through. Over 1.6 million acres, up to 40 km (25 mi) inland, were flooded by the combined storm surge and river flooding.
Contributed on 6/3/15
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Record #: 95906