Tropical Storm Cindy (1963)

Preparations and impact

In advance of Cindy's arrival, a hurricane watch was issued between Freeport, Texas and Grand Isle, Louisiana on 16 September. The New Orleans Weather Bureau office imposed a hurricane warning between Galveston, Texas and Vermilion Bay, Louisiana three hours later, and additionally replaced the earlier hurricane watch with a gale warning. After making landfall on the morning of 17 September, the hurricane warning for Cindy was discontinued, though flood warnings and small craft warnings remained in effect for coastal areas of southeastern Texas. Mandatory evacuations were ordered for low-lying areas along a 300 mi (480 km) arc, and five buses were sent to help in evacuation efforts in Sabine County, Texas. Meanwhile, the Texas civil defense and disaster relief agency and other related organizations prepared for the storm as governor of Texas John Connally declared a state of emergency. In Cameron Parish, Louisiana, approximately 5,000 individuals left the area prior to the storm, while 6,000 fled in the state as a whole; in neighboring Texas, 3,600 individuals living along the state's shoreline heeded the Weather Bureau's warnings, evacuating to higher ground. Emergency shelters opened along the Gulf Coast, with 1,500 taking refuge in Port Arthur, Texas, 525 in Beaumont, 1,078 in Galveston, 300 in Port Bolivar, and 475 total in Texas City, Hitchcock, and Lamarque. A state of emergency was declared in the city of Lake Charles, Louisiana, where officials prepared to feed up to 10,000 refugees as the Salvation Army and other relief agencies' volunteers were deployed to the region.

One shrimp boat was initially reported missing and the tug Myra White transmitted a distress signal as its engines failed near an oil rig off of Galveston. High winds shattered glass windows at Port Arthur, Texas City, and Galveston, while schools were shut down in Galveston, Lamarque, Texas City, Alvin, and most of Galveston and Jefferson counties. Despite a brief power outage at Lamarque, electricity was quickly restored after the storm. Powerful gusts downed branches, electrical poles, and tore off shingles in Port Arthur and Galveston, but damage was minimal at High Island, where Cindy made landfall. The U.S. Coast Guard responded to four requests for assistance at Galveston, and nine vessels attempted to seek refuge at Port Arthur; the Coast Guard eventually permitted six to enter, and the other three apparently traveled to Galveston. Meanwhile, to the northwest, the port of Houston was closed for the duration of the storm. Trucks and boats were dispatched by civil defense officials in Jefferson County after declaring a state of emergency following numerous requests for assistance by residents of flooded homes. Two children, initially unaccounted for, were later found safe under a bridge abutment.

In Amelia, a suburb of Beaumont, officials helped residents in low-lying neighborhoods to higher ground, and in Beaumont proper, flooding inundated streets, rendering some impassible. The hurricane partially defoliated palm trees, leaving palm fronds on streets and roadways, and several structures were toppled or damaged along the coast. Overall damage, however, was minimal. An 8 ft (2.4 m) levee sheltering Port Acres ruptured, forcing residents to stack 11,000 sandbags and dump sand to protect the suburb. There, storm waters inundated homes up to roof level, and after carp were swept into local farm fields, many locals fished for them with clubs; nearby, industrial complexes in Jefferson and Orange counties endured severe damage as well. Boats were tossed into the streets of Beaumont, and numerous highways were unusable for travel due to high water; the widespread flooding forced police to rescue 30 residents in the Beaumont area. The storm inundated rice, cotton, and pecan crops, with rice harvests suffering the worst impacts. Two men left stranded on a burning fishing boat 50 mi (80 km) off of Morgan City, Louisiana were later rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard without issue.

Tides and winds resulted in few problems, with flooding causing the majority of Cindy's damage; storm surge reached 3 to 5 ft (0.91 to 1.52 m) above normal levels, enough to destroy only a few piers and damage several boats. The hurricane's abnormally slow trajectory over the Texas coastal plain led to extremely high rainfall totals being measured in parts of Jefferson, Orange, and Newton counties in Texas, where storm waters inundated 4,000 homes, and Calcasieu and Vermilion parishes in Louisiana. The most extreme rainfall totals were measured in Deweyville, Texas, where 23.50 in (597 mm) of precipitation fell over a three-day period, with 20.60 in (523 mm) alone falling in 24 hours. Farther north, Cindy inundated 25 businesses and 35 homes in Guthrie, Oklahoma, where up to 2.5 ft (0.76 m) of water forced 300 residents to flee. Upwards of $11.7 million (1963 USD) in property damage was noted, and crop damage reached $500,000 in Texas and $360,000 in Louisiana; one man drowned after falling overboard on a boat taking oil rig personnel back to land, while two others drowned under high waters at Port Acres. Overall, Cindy inflicted $12.5 million in damage and three deaths.