Hurricane Celia
Encyclopedia
Hurricane Celia was the third named tropical cyclone
, the second hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 1970 Atlantic hurricane season
. Celia began as a tropical wave
which formed off the eastern coast of Africa
on July 23. The wave reached the eastern Caribbean Sea
on July 28 and began to become more organized. The low was declared a tropical depression a few days later while slowly developing. The depression crossed over western Cuba
late on July 31, causing five fatalities. Shortly after emerging into the Gulf of Mexico
, the depression was upgraded to Tropical Storm Celia. With warm sea surface temperatures, Celia rapidly intensified
into a major hurricane on the August 1.
The intensification was temporary and Celia weakened to a minimal hurricane the next morning. As Celia moved towards the Texas
coastline, it began to rapidly intensify again. The storm reached its peak as it made landfall near Corpus Christi, Texas
, as a strong Category Three hurricane late on August 3. The storm caused 15 fatalities in Texas before dissipating inland the next day. Damages in Texas totaled to $930 million, making Celia the costliest disaster in Texas history at the time. To date, Celia is last major hurricane to strike the city of Corpus Christi, Texas
, directly.
that moved off the eastern Africa
n coast on July 23. The wave moved quickly at 20 mi/h to 25 mi/h with no development. The wave entered into the eastern Caribbean Sea
on July 28 and began to show signs of development. Pressures over the Southern United States
were falling at that time, eroding the subtropical ridge. This allowed the storm to develop a closed circulation and the wave was declared a tropical disturbance on July 29. The disturbance was declared Tropical Depression Three the next day. Tropical Depression Three crossed over western Cuba that night. A reconnaissance flight found that the depression had a pressure of 1007 mbar at the time but they could not finish the mission due to the proximity to Cuba. The storm entered the Gulf of Mexico
late on July 31 and began to feed off the warm waters. On the morning of August 1, another reconnaissance flight found winds of tropical storm intensity and the depression was upgraded to Tropical Storm Celia.
Satellite loops of Celia showed that the storm was becoming more organized throughout the day. A reconnaissance mission in the afternoon confirmed the intensification, and Celia was upgraded to a major hurricane with winds of 115 mi/h and a pressure of 965 mbar
(hPa
; 28.49 inHg). The rapid intensification was brief and Celia weakened to a category one the next morning. The storm moved in a steady west north-west motion since it entered the gulf, and several reconnaissance missions flew into the storm to provide forecasters with valuable data. The forecast errors at that time were some of the lowest in several years; they were 38.4 mi (61.8 km) and 64 mi (103 km) for 12 and 24 hours, respectively compared to the long term mean of over 100 mi (160.9 km). As Celia neared the Texas coastline, another round of rapid deepening occurred. The pressure dropped 39 mbar in 15 hours and the winds increased to 125 mi/h, just short of category four status.
The intensification was unexpected as conditions were not in favor of rapid development. After moving inland, Celia maintained tropical storm intensity for 30 hours before dissipating over western Texas on August 5. The slow dissipation was unusual since Celia was a relatively small storm, and such storms usually break apart after shortly landfall. Celia was an unusual hurricane in that most of the damage was caused by sudden and severe wind gusts on the left side of the storm. Sustained winds were never higher than 120 mi/h to 130 mi/h but gusts locally reached 160 mi/h or more. The gusts were in streaks and only lasted for 15 minutes.
Celia caused 27 fatalities, four in Cuba, eight in Florida and 15 in Texas and left $930 million in damages. Corpus Christi, Texas
suffered the worst damage with at least 80% of all the structures in the city damaged and half of those damaged were severely damaged or destroyed.
, resulting in major flooding. Four people drowned and another man was electrocuted in the water when he tried to retrieve a downed power line. While over the central Gulf of Mexico, strong rip current
s and large swells produced by the storm resulted in eight drownings along the Florida coastline.
Throughout southern Texas, Hurricane Celia killed 15 people, injured 466 others, and caused $930 million in damages. The most severe damage was in Corpus Christi
and Aransas Pass, Texas
. There, 8,950 homes were destroyed and over 60,000 others were damaged, accounting for $250 million of the total losses. The most severe damage occurred in the streaks of damage. The streaks were not caused by a tornado as no evidence of rotation was found. The swaths of damage were caused by a series of microburst
s and downburst
s, most of which occurred in a 15 minute span. Survivors of the storm described the downbursts as suddenly rocket shells exploding. However, areas between the streaks suffered surprisingly little damage, mainly ornamental due to debris from the homes nearby. Some of the worst damage was at a trailer camp where several hundred mobile homes were left in mangled ruins, some even stacked on top of each other. A newly constructed shopping center, which was thought to have the finest construction, was left completely destroyed. Damage to most of the structures was mainly roof damage. However, several homes suffered more severe damage or were destroyed. Some homes had their entire roof torn off, leaving only the fixed appliances.
Celia dropped heavy rains as it made landfall. Due to the small size and fast movement of the storm, the rainfall was not widespread. At the time of landfall, much of Texas was suffering from a drought and the heavy rains were welcome. The heaviest rains fell in Corpus Christi where up to 7 in (177.8 mm) inches fell. Most areas received 3 in (76.2 mm) to 4 in (101.6 mm) of rain.
After Celia's landfall, most homeowners insurance policies refused to write insurance for areas considered to be "high risk" along the Texas coast, prompting the state government to form the Texas Catastrophe Property Insurance Association, now known as the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association. Today, the pool covers all coastal counties of Texas and even some inland counties, including parts of Harris County
near Houston, Texas
.
retired the name Celia the following year. The name was then replaced by Carmen
which was retired upon its first use in 1974
.
Tropical cyclone
A tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a large low-pressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and heavy rain. Tropical cyclones strengthen when water evaporated from the ocean is released as the saturated air rises, resulting in condensation of water vapor...
, the second hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 1970 Atlantic hurricane season
1970 Atlantic hurricane season
The 1970 Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 1, 1970, and lasted until November 30, 1970. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic basin...
. Celia began as a tropical wave
Tropical wave
Tropical waves, easterly waves, or tropical easterly waves, also known as African easterly waves in the Atlantic region, are a type of atmospheric trough, an elongated area of relatively low air pressure, oriented north to south, which move from east to west across the tropics causing areas of...
which formed off the eastern coast of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
on July 23. The wave reached the eastern Caribbean Sea
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....
on July 28 and began to become more organized. The low was declared a tropical depression a few days later while slowly developing. The depression crossed over western Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
late on July 31, causing five fatalities. Shortly after emerging into the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
, the depression was upgraded to Tropical Storm Celia. With warm sea surface temperatures, Celia rapidly intensified
Rapid deepening
Rapid deepening, also known as rapid intensification, is a meteorological condition that occurs when the minimum sea-level atmospheric pressure of a tropical cyclone decreases drastically in a short period of time. The National Weather Service describes rapid deepening as a decrease of...
into a major hurricane on the August 1.
The intensification was temporary and Celia weakened to a minimal hurricane the next morning. As Celia moved towards the Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
coastline, it began to rapidly intensify again. The storm reached its peak as it made landfall near Corpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties. The MSA population in 2008 was 416,376. The population was 305,215 at the 2010 census making it the...
, as a strong Category Three hurricane late on August 3. The storm caused 15 fatalities in Texas before dissipating inland the next day. Damages in Texas totaled to $930 million, making Celia the costliest disaster in Texas history at the time. To date, Celia is last major hurricane to strike the city of Corpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties. The MSA population in 2008 was 416,376. The population was 305,215 at the 2010 census making it the...
, directly.
Meteorological history
The precursor to Hurricane Celia was a tropical waveTropical wave
Tropical waves, easterly waves, or tropical easterly waves, also known as African easterly waves in the Atlantic region, are a type of atmospheric trough, an elongated area of relatively low air pressure, oriented north to south, which move from east to west across the tropics causing areas of...
that moved off the eastern Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n coast on July 23. The wave moved quickly at 20 mi/h to 25 mi/h with no development. The wave entered into the eastern Caribbean Sea
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....
on July 28 and began to show signs of development. Pressures over the Southern United States
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
were falling at that time, eroding the subtropical ridge. This allowed the storm to develop a closed circulation and the wave was declared a tropical disturbance on July 29. The disturbance was declared Tropical Depression Three the next day. Tropical Depression Three crossed over western Cuba that night. A reconnaissance flight found that the depression had a pressure of 1007 mbar at the time but they could not finish the mission due to the proximity to Cuba. The storm entered the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
late on July 31 and began to feed off the warm waters. On the morning of August 1, another reconnaissance flight found winds of tropical storm intensity and the depression was upgraded to Tropical Storm Celia.
Satellite loops of Celia showed that the storm was becoming more organized throughout the day. A reconnaissance mission in the afternoon confirmed the intensification, and Celia was upgraded to a major hurricane with winds of 115 mi/h and a pressure of 965 mbar
Bar (unit)
The bar is a unit of pressure equal to 100 kilopascals, and roughly equal to the atmospheric pressure on Earth at sea level. Other units derived from the bar are the megabar , kilobar , decibar , centibar , and millibar...
(hPa
Pascal (unit)
The pascal is the SI derived unit of pressure, internal pressure, stress, Young's modulus and tensile strength, named after the French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and philosopher Blaise Pascal. It is a measure of force per unit area, defined as one newton per square metre...
; 28.49 inHg). The rapid intensification was brief and Celia weakened to a category one the next morning. The storm moved in a steady west north-west motion since it entered the gulf, and several reconnaissance missions flew into the storm to provide forecasters with valuable data. The forecast errors at that time were some of the lowest in several years; they were 38.4 mi (61.8 km) and 64 mi (103 km) for 12 and 24 hours, respectively compared to the long term mean of over 100 mi (160.9 km). As Celia neared the Texas coastline, another round of rapid deepening occurred. The pressure dropped 39 mbar in 15 hours and the winds increased to 125 mi/h, just short of category four status.
The intensification was unexpected as conditions were not in favor of rapid development. After moving inland, Celia maintained tropical storm intensity for 30 hours before dissipating over western Texas on August 5. The slow dissipation was unusual since Celia was a relatively small storm, and such storms usually break apart after shortly landfall. Celia was an unusual hurricane in that most of the damage was caused by sudden and severe wind gusts on the left side of the storm. Sustained winds were never higher than 120 mi/h to 130 mi/h but gusts locally reached 160 mi/h or more. The gusts were in streaks and only lasted for 15 minutes.
Impact
Corpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties. The MSA population in 2008 was 416,376. The population was 305,215 at the 2010 census making it the...
suffered the worst damage with at least 80% of all the structures in the city damaged and half of those damaged were severely damaged or destroyed.
Cuba and Florida
As a tropical depression, Celia dropped heavy rains over western CubaCuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, resulting in major flooding. Four people drowned and another man was electrocuted in the water when he tried to retrieve a downed power line. While over the central Gulf of Mexico, strong rip current
Rip current
A rip current, commonly referred to by the misnomer rip tide, is a strong channel of water flowing seaward from near the shore, typically through the surf line. Typical flow is at 0.5 metres per second , and can be as fast as 2.5 metres per second...
s and large swells produced by the storm resulted in eight drownings along the Florida coastline.
Texas
Corpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties. The MSA population in 2008 was 416,376. The population was 305,215 at the 2010 census making it the...
and Aransas Pass, Texas
Aransas Pass, Texas
Aransas Pass is a city in Aransas, Nueces, and San Patricio counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 8,138 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Aransas Pass is located at ....
. There, 8,950 homes were destroyed and over 60,000 others were damaged, accounting for $250 million of the total losses. The most severe damage occurred in the streaks of damage. The streaks were not caused by a tornado as no evidence of rotation was found. The swaths of damage were caused by a series of microburst
Microburst
A microburst is a very localized column of sinking air, producing damaging divergent and straight-line winds at the surface that are similar to, but distinguishable from, tornadoes, which generally have convergent damage. There are two types of microbursts: wet microbursts and dry microbursts...
s and downburst
Downburst
A downburst is created by an area of significantly rain-cooled air that, after reaching ground level, spreads out in all directions producing strong winds. Unlike winds in a tornado, winds in a downburst are directed outwards from the point where it hits land or water...
s, most of which occurred in a 15 minute span. Survivors of the storm described the downbursts as suddenly rocket shells exploding. However, areas between the streaks suffered surprisingly little damage, mainly ornamental due to debris from the homes nearby. Some of the worst damage was at a trailer camp where several hundred mobile homes were left in mangled ruins, some even stacked on top of each other. A newly constructed shopping center, which was thought to have the finest construction, was left completely destroyed. Damage to most of the structures was mainly roof damage. However, several homes suffered more severe damage or were destroyed. Some homes had their entire roof torn off, leaving only the fixed appliances.
Celia dropped heavy rains as it made landfall. Due to the small size and fast movement of the storm, the rainfall was not widespread. At the time of landfall, much of Texas was suffering from a drought and the heavy rains were welcome. The heaviest rains fell in Corpus Christi where up to 7 in (177.8 mm) inches fell. Most areas received 3 in (76.2 mm) to 4 in (101.6 mm) of rain.
After Celia's landfall, most homeowners insurance policies refused to write insurance for areas considered to be "high risk" along the Texas coast, prompting the state government to form the Texas Catastrophe Property Insurance Association, now known as the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association. Today, the pool covers all coastal counties of Texas and even some inland counties, including parts of Harris County
Harris County, Texas
As of the 2010 Census, the population of the county was 4,092,459, White Americans made up 56.6% of Harris County's population; non-Hispanic whites represented 33.0% of the population. Black Americans made up 18.9% of the population. Native Americans made up 0.7% of Harris County's population...
near Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
.
Retirement
Due to the severity of damage caused by the hurricane, the World Meteorological OrganizationWorld Meteorological Organization
The World Meteorological Organization is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 189 Member States and Territories. It originated from the International Meteorological Organization , which was founded in 1873...
retired the name Celia the following year. The name was then replaced by Carmen
Hurricane Carmen
Hurricane Carmen was the most intense tropical cyclone of the 1974 Atlantic hurricane season. A destructive and widespread storm, Carmen originated as a tropical disturbance that emerged from Africa toward the end of August. The wave traveled westward, spawning a tropical depression east of the...
which was retired upon its first use in 1974
1974 Atlantic hurricane season
The 1974 Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 1, 1974, and lasted until November 30, 1974. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic basin...
.
See also
- 1970 Atlantic hurricane season1970 Atlantic hurricane seasonThe 1970 Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 1, 1970, and lasted until November 30, 1970. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic basin...
- List of Atlantic hurricanes
- List of tropical cyclones
