Ranking state’s worst hurricane seasons in past 15 years
It may only be April, but the start of the Atlantic hurricane season is approaching and could be fierce.
A combination of factors is expected to provide the ingredients necessary for numerous and intense tropical cyclones.
The history of devastation inflicted on Texas by hurricane seasons underscores the importance of storm preparations because it only takes one to forever change a community. Let’s look at the worst hurricane seasons of the past 15 years.
5. 2020
A record-smashing 30 named tropical systems occurred in 2020, exceeding the previous record of 28 set in 2005.
Fortunately, Texas was not affected by major hurricanes, but the state endured Hurricane Hanna and Tropical Storm Beta. Four deaths were attributed to Hanna in Mexico and one local fisherman drowned in rain-swollen Brays Bayou. Total damage of these two systems surpassed $1.4 billion, a cost shared with Mexico.
4. 2021
The 2021 hurricane season brought 21 named systems to the Atlantic basin, including a Texas landfall with Category 1 Hurricane Nicholas. Making landfall in mid-september near East Matagorda Bay, Nicholas and its remnants caused an estimated $1 billion in damage from Texas to Tennessee and two direct deaths in Alabama. Flash flooding from heavy rainfall was the main challenge brought to Southeast Texas, with up to 9 inches of rain falling across the Houston metro area.
3. 2019
Although many of the 18 named tropical systems in the 2019 season were weaker than most or short-lived, and Texas escaped the 2019 hurricane season without a direct hurricane landfall, Tropical Storm Imelda did push ashore on the upper Texas
Gulf Coast in mid-september.
Imelda and its remnants were responsible for five deaths in Southeast Texas, all caused by flooding. An estimated 5,100 homes in Jefferson County were flooded, with another 3,100 flooded homes in Harris, Liberty and Montgomery counties. Total damage estimates amounted to nearly $5 billion.
2. 2008
The 2008 hurricane season left a lasting impression on Southeast Texas, with three of the 16 named systems in the Atlantic making landfall in the Lone Star State. Hurricane Dolly struck near South Padre Island in late July, causing damage worth more than $1 billion. Tropical Storm Edouard hit just two weeks later east of Anahuac, with damage estimates of around $500,000.
Hurricane Ike approached the upper Texas Gulf Coast in midseptember. Ike came ashore as a Category 2 hurricane and was directly responsible for the deaths of 74 Texans, many of whom died along the Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston Island. The total damage cost in the U.S. reached $30 billion, with additional damage costs incurred in Cuba, the Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos nearing $8 billion.
1. 2017
Of the 17 named systems in the Atlantic basin during the 2017 season, only one made landfall in Texas: Hurricane Harvey.
Harvey made landfall near Rockport in late August as a Category 4 hurricane, bringing winds stronger than 130 mph and a significant storm surge. While the center of Harvey never tracked much closer than 100 miles from Houston, multiple slow moving and intense rain bands moved through Southeast Texas over several excruciating days.
Harvey’s slow movement and heavy rainfall made it the most significant tropical cyclone rainfall event in U.S. history since the 1880s, both in scope and peak rainfall amounts. The highest rainfall amount occurred about 50 miles east of Houston in Nederland, where just over 5 feet of rain fell. As many as 18 weather sites across Southeast Texas recorded rainfall amounts of more than 4 feet, with rain totals of 3 to 4 feet across much of Houston and Harris County. The widespread extreme flooding was one of factors that made Harvey so memorable.
Hurricane Harvey resulted in the deaths of at least 68 people, all of whom were in Texas. All but three deaths were caused by freshwater flooding and, remarkably for a major hurricane, none was the result of storm surge. Total estimated cost of damage caused by Harvey equates to more than $125 billion, but the actual damage cost is likely higher.
More than 300,000 structures in Southeast Texas were flooded along with 500,000 vehicles. About 336,000 utility customers lost power during Harvey. The Federal Emergency Management Agency recorded 30,000 water rescues as about 40,000 flood survivors sought shelter across Texas and Louisiana.