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1
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- Corpus Christi’s
- Storm of the Century
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2
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3
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4
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- "…The configuration of the islands separating the bay from the Gulf
is such to preclude the possibility of a tidal wave sweeping over Corpus
Christi. Besides this… nine tenths of the area of Corpus Christi is on a
bluff 30 feet high -- the highest point on the Gulf coast. Probably the
safest point on saltwater in America.”
- Corpus Christi Caller, July 3, 1909
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5
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- The widespread belief that the Coastal Bend was protected from the
severe damage of hurricanes by the barrier islands resulted in
unprecedented growth.
- The effort to build a seawall was considered so much boondoggle and a
waste of time and money.
- More importantly, the lack of damage inflicted by the 1916 storm
reinforced this sense of invulnerability.
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6
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7
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- "When the storm was blowing the worst the orchestra played its
merriest, the vocalists sang their most encouraging numbers and waiters
buzzed. There was little confusion. The hotel was as firm as a mountain.
Men, women, and children, bound by a common cause, chatted and things
lively, oblivious to the rage of the elements."
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8
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- Trees were blown down by the 1916 storm. Some buildings were damaged and
the city lost electric power. A total of 15 in all of South Texas died
as a result of the storm, nine by drowning.
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9
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- When the stories of incredible damage from a hurricane in the Florida
Keys reached the area, neither the local citizens nor the Weather Bureau
made much of the possibility of a Texas landfall.
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10
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- There were no ship reports and only sporadic observations along the
coast.
- Barometer and wind readings and human observation were the only ways to
track such storms in the days before satellites.
- The storm had effectively vanished.
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11
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- Following message sent from NEW at 1143 pm and received at 1207 am Sept.
13, 1919 "Advisory regret that no radio reports were received from
Gulf of Mexico during the entire day increasing northeast winds at mouth
of Mississippi River indicate that storm is not far to southward of that
locality and we can only repeat previous messages urging great caution
until further advices Saturday morning goodnight." signed
Frankenfield”
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12
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- At least ten ships were sunk by the storm, including the steamer
Valbanera that sank between Key West and the Dry Tortugas with 488 souls aboard. That is why no
reports came in from ships at sea.
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13
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- With winds reaching at least 110 mph, perhaps as much as 125 mph, in the
Corpus Christi area and wave heights as high as 16 feet, the great storm
made landfall in Northern Kleberg County on the morning of September 14, 1919.
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14
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- 8:00 am - Pressure near 29.40 inches. Northwest winds 46 mph, constant
rain.
- 9:03 am - Instrument shelter struck by flying debris... partly
demolished... sunshine recorder broken.
- 9:30 am -Following warning issued: "Direct people in exposed places
to seek places of safety."
- 9:45 am - Tide almost up to the gutter on east side of Water Street.
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15
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- 10:30 am - Confirmation of storm's approach received from regional
Weather Bureau Office, New Orleans.
- 10:30 am - Wires to Port Aransas down.
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16
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17
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- 4:00 pm - Water rising much slower but continuing until now... total
depth of highest water in the business district was about 11.5 feet
above mean sea level... somewhat higher in the north end of town... much
higher toward the west end of Nueces Bay where the bay narrows.
- 4:12 pm - East windows of office
were broken in by being struck by objects which were flying in the
air... it was necessary to protect the main office and instruments as
best as we could.
- 4 a.m. of the 15th - Water was about two feet deep in Chaparral Street
and it was about 48 hours later that it reached the height usually
spoken of as high water lines.
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18
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- Wind data at the Weather Bureau Office was lost in the early afternoon
when the anemometer was destroyed. The only other recorder was at the
Nueces County Courthouse. This device recorded a gust of 170 mph before
being destroyed also. The instrument was located on top of the building,
so any data it recorded is probably too high to believe, but it shows
the incredible forces at work within this hurricane. This high wind and
the shallow depth of our bay combined to make this storm a nightmare.
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19
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- These act to weaken and then tear away buildings close to the shore.
These pieces of buildings then become deadly missiles.
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20
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- A seiche developed along the bayfront of Corpus Christi as the high
winds veered eastward and pushed the water towards the shore. It piled
the water up on the shallow bay bottom and added even more height to
the storm surge. In all, the water reached 11.5 feet in the downtown
district, and up to 16 feet as the bay narrows inland into Nueces Bay.
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21
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- This was the case with the tour boat Japonica. Sunk at her berth in the
1916 storm and then refloated, she was stranded on land by the 1919
storm. Japonica was repaired and refloated again and served many more
years in various capacities.
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22
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- In North Beach, only three buildings survived: all took severe damage.
In the business district, debris was piled up to 15.5 feet.
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23
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- 121 bodies and 87 survivors were washed 7 miles across Nueces Bay onto
White’s Point. The casualty list published in the September 28th
Corpus Christi Caller reported 157 identified dead, 188 unidentified
dead, and 275 reported missing, for a possible total of 620
victims. Counting those who died
in ships at sea, well over 1000 perished. Some sources say as many as
2000 were lost, including tourists who were never reported missing but
simply vanished.
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24
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- Casualty List
- _____
- The figures on dead and missing in the Corpus Christi district affected
by the flood were announced at the Information bureau Saturday as
follows:
- At Corpus Christi, White Point and Portland:
- Identified dead ………………....…. 157
- Unidentified men and boys………..
53
- Unidentified women and girls……. 110
- At other points……………………… 25
- Known dead………………………… 345
- Missing………………………………. 275
- ________
- Known dead and missing……….... 620
- -- 1919 Corpus Christi Caller
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25
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- There were also wrecked homes, dead livestock, crude oil, spoiled
groceries, lumber, and corpses that continued to wash up for weeks after
the hurricane.
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26
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- It caused $20 million in damage, equal to $450 million today, and up to
2000 deaths in Florida and Texas.
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27
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- The 1919 storm is classed as a level 4, or extreme, hurricane in the
Sapir-Simpson Scale - with a barometric pressure of 27.17 -27.88 inches,
winds of 131-155 mph, and a storm surge of 13-18 feet.
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28
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- Bob Simpson, head of the National Hurricane Center in the 1970’s and
co-developer of Safir-Simpson scale, fled the 1919 storm with his family
as a young boy of five when their North Beach home was inundated.
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29
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30
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- "As gusts of wind picked up, a Mr. Harden [sic], who owned Harden's
Courts, said Key West had been wiped off the face of the earth. He
thought we should get to higher ground… “
- - Clyde Prather
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31
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- "Oh no, I can't leave home. We're having coconut pie for dinner.”
- Captain B.M. Egeland, "I" Company, the commander of the Beach Hotel that
was turned into a military convalescent hospital.
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32
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- "We got out so fast I left barefooted... I got a sticklebur in my
foot, but she wouldn't let me stop to get it out. I cried all the way to
the hospital.”
- Lemmawayne Greathouse Burnett, Age 5, who took refuge in the Beach Hotel
with her family.
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33
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- "I had never seen wind blow with such fury. The house shook. We
went to a stronger house. It was not much better. The water hit it with
a great roar. It went to pieces and was swept out to sea as you would
scatter corn to chickens… The day after the storm I had nothing."
- - Eulalio G. Vela
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34
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- "I called the Weather Bureau and they said the worst was over... I
called my relatives on the Beach and told them that. They had started to
drive to town but they turned back. My grandparents on both sides,
aunts, uncles and cousins drowned, nine altogether.”
- - D. N. Wright, a resident of Water Street
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35
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- “We sat on the beds. The soldiers told us stories. You could hear the
storm and ever so often, a big wave would smash into the windows. They
would tell us, ‘Don't go near the windows.' You could look out and see
hundreds of pillows floating on the water."
- Lemmawayne Greathouse Burnett, Age 5,
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36
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- " … We saw that the wires were all down, telephone poles were all
gone, not a bathhouse in sight, not a fishing pier, the garage near the
hotel was gone, with 60 cars in the bay, the concrete service station
was gone, also the dancing pavilion and bowling alley…Still the storm
raged and still the refugees came, and still we wept for them. ''
- - Lucy Caldwell, Age 37, vacationing schoolteacher staying in the Nueces
Hotel
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37
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- "It was terrifying to see... an enormous wave poised above us… to
feel our raft heave and know that we were going to be submerged for as
long as our breath would last… As we emerged from another huge wave, the
lightning showed Billy at the end of the joists … trying desperately to
hold on. Another wave and the lightning failed to reveal him. Over the
howling wind and pounding waves, Esther called to me… ‘Ted, I just
couldn't hold him any longer…’"
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38
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- "We were kept busy changing rafts all night long as the waves would
wash other wreckage upon that which we were on… What little we had on
kept catching in nails on the timber and... we were forced to strip…
Mrs. Brooks…had one of her babies tied to her with a rope… the baby was
swept overboard by wreckage and she was drawn under also."
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39
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- "I couldn't swim. The dog kept pulling me back by the hair. I was
shivering and my teeth chattered so hard I damaged the enamel…About 2 in
the morning a wave knocked Scotch and me into the water. I grabbed the
raft again. But I couldn't find him… He was gone."
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40
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- "And the odor cannot be described in words. Slime, mud, dead horses
along the beach, decayed fruits and vegetables, burst sewers, wet
lumber, molded dry goods… I have avoided telling you the worst things I
saw.”
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41
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- The Corpus Christi National Bank placed ads after the storm, stating
that "Wet Safe Deposit Boxes Should Be Opened at Once" and
exhorting readers to "Bring Your Key."
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42
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- "Oh, Lord. They'd find a child's body in the debris and before it
could be dug out people would rush in and scratch the wreckage away.
"That doesn't look like my child," they'd say and walk away.
Or they'd recognize the body and scream…”
- - M. A. "Red" Harper, age 18, National Guardsman
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43
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- “My Daddy,”Tiny” Ledbetter, said the wind and water turned the bodies
from Spohn Sanatarium into missiles. They were embedded in the cliffs
that used to be across the bay when he was a boy. The adults were busy
with the survivors so the children had to dig the bodies out of the
cliff. He was five years old then.”
- - Kay Donovan, dance teacher in
Corpus Christi
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44
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- For health reasons, unidentified bodies were interred quickly in mass
graves. Jewelry from the unidentified dead was placed on display in the
downtown storefront of R. H. Bingham.
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45
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- The McDonald House on North Beach undergoing repair. The Beach Hotel is
in the far right, marked with an x.
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46
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- The seawall was no longer considered a waste of money. The bayfront was
created, and with it, new opportunities.
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47
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Notes
