AUSTIN, Texas — Hurricane Carla, in 1961, was so big that it filled the Gulf of Mexico before it struck just 175 miles from Austin, coming ashore at Port O’Connor, south of Galveston.
The storm, which struck on Sept. 11, 1961, turned out to be one of the largest in hurricane history, filling the Gulf with fierce winds and roaring tides.
It caused damage from Port Arthur to Brownsville – the entire length of the Texas Gulf Coast. Torrential rains and high winds were felt in Austin and beyond.
When it came ashore, Carla’s winds clocked at 170 miles per hour. But it was the storm surge and high waves that caused much of the damage, flooding homes and businesses from Port Arthur to Corpus Christi.
After the storm passed, the Weather Service reported that most of the injuries from the hurricane were caused by snake bites from the thousands carried in by the flood waters. Thousands of water moccasins were washed from Southeast Texas swamps and bayous and ended up piling up on streets and in yards in Port Arthur.
Live television coverage about the approaching storm is credited with the surprisingly low death toll since only 38 people died. Advanced warnings led to the evacuation of nearly 400,000 coastal residents before the hurricane hit.
A young reporter named Dan Rather from television station KGUL Channel 11, now known as Houston TV station KHOU, brought live reports and radar updates continuously from the Galveston Weather Service office. It was something not seen before on TV.
Impressed by his reporting, the CBS network offered Rather a job, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Hurricane Carla, 63 years ago this week: The storm that brought massive destruction along the coast and brought television into the age of live reporting from a hurricane.