Hurricane Carla

Hurricane Carla 1961

by

B.D. Adams

©2017

M

y Texas memories can be one after the other of happiness and childhood delight. Some of them, though, could be scary and alarming. Like my memory of Hurricane Carla.

   We moved to Victoria, TX, in 1960. I was on the upside of being ten-years-old. We moved to a suburb where many other kids lived. A modern way to live.

   We moved to Victoria because he became the head Physical Therapist in a bigger hospital.in Victoria. Victoria was between Houston and Corpse Christi.

    When we got to Victoria, we were closer to the Gulf Coast. Since my father was a boatman and a fisherman, we would go to the coast very often. We would tow our boat to there every time.

   Our main place to go was Port O’Connor – about 50 miles south of Victoria. With the storms I could remember back then, were some Gales or rain storms. The idea of anything worse was not considered.

   Then, in September 1961, I was 11 -- it became considered that the brewing storm in the Gulf of Mexico could hit Texas. Schools were closed until further notice. This was the first time I can remember that I actually watched the news and weather. I had no idea why it fascinated me, but it did.

   Then the news became definite that Hurricane Carla, as the storm was named, headed to Port O’Connor. The sustained winds were now expected to increase to 100mph. My mother and father had done the preparation to try to hunker down the house – a single story structure (no basement or crawlspace). The windows, front and back, had been taped with masking tape to keep the glass from splintering. My father had bought a large roll of plastic, in case a window did break.

   To a kid, this was exciting! Little did she know that the begeebies would be scared out of her!!

    September 12, 1961, the winds began very strong along with the rain – the sideway rain! It was daylight like around early afternoon. The sound was so horrible!

   As the storm intensified, if I was educated with The Tempest, this was what I would envision for Shakespeare’s sea storm!

   I watched out the front windows. There was so much debris that flew around. We would hear as the solid pieces would hit the house! There was little detail to see, but all the house could be seen. Many neighbors stayed, but just as many evacuated.

   Then, we heard and saw, an even more horrible sound, as a neighbor across the street lost their carport!! Thank goodness, they weren’t at home. (After the storm, we learned that the wall on that side caved.)

   My mother, being an average mother, made like a sleep-over in the living room; blankets, pillows, even a few sleeping bags. She made sandwiches for our supper. There was no electric, but we had candles and a couple of camp kerosene lanterns.

   It was night now – the storm still wailed. My mother kept trying to get me to sleep, but there was no way I could sleep. My younger brother had no problem. After supper he fell asleep.

   Then, quite surprising … the winds stopped. My father made note that we got a corner of “The Eye.” We went out the back door and stood on the concrete slab that was a porch, sort of. The water was deep here.

   I looked to the sky and saw the stars and a bit of the moon. I could see all the junk that lay all over the backyard and against the fences. It was a little spooky. Also, frogs were heard. Weird!

   “Is it over?” I asked my father.

   “No – now we need to fortify the backdoor. This is round two,” he calmly informed.

   And, he taped around the backdoor to try to keep the rain/water out. No sooner than we talked, the storm came back even fiercer!!

   It was like something from Disney’s “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” All these junky pieces on the backyard flew up and banged loudly against the house!

   Then, there was a nasty loud crashing bang at my brother’s bedroom. His window at the back was broken by a shingle that sliced through the screen and broke the glass. The wind was so violent, my father couldn’t get the tape to tape the plastic!

   He took a bed blanket and stuffed it into the window, and then opened the closet door to better reinforce that window.

   Now, the only sound heard from that window was a wheezing – a constant wheezing. My father closed the room’s door which helped.

   I did finally fall asleep. Had no idea of the time. It was just dark – dark, windy and upsetting.

   When I woke, there was still some wind and rain, but much calmer now. The sky was becoming brighter.

   My father had the Coleman Stove going so he and mother could have coffee. The bathtub had been filled with water because it was known that city water wouldn’t be good for many days. He used the antique coffee pot. The aroma of the coffee was like assurance that the storm had passed.

   Hurricane Carla was a Category 5 storm.