Yes, Claudette was definitely a hurricane, and she did a fair amount of damage, but I think most Texans would probably agree that we got off relatively easy. Of course, if you live in Seaside or Port O'Connor, you might be arguing that point.
The first Atlantic hurricane of the season had sustained winds of 80 mph as it made landfall at Palacios, about 100 miles southwest of Houston, shortly before noon. It generated menacing rain, wind and waves and created drama to spare.
A 33-year-old woman died in Victoria, 40 miles inland from Port O'Connor, after she was hit by a limb from a storm-weakened tree as she and her husband assessed damage to their residence, Victoria County Sheriff Mike Ratcliff told The Associated Press.
A Detar Navarro Hospital official said the woman died as she was being treated there Tuesday.
Farther inland about 45 miles south of San Antonio, the storm claimed the life of a 13-year-old boy in Jourdanton about 7:30 p.m. when a mesquite uprooted by heavy winds landed on him while he was standing in his front yard, Atascosa County Sheriff's Department said.
In Galveston, waves slammed into the city's 17-foot-tall seawall, sending geysers of sea water 30 feet into the air. Beyond the protective bulwark, the Gulf played havoc with stilted houses that line the island's western beaches.
At Sabine Pass, two Louisiana shrimpers bobbed in the waves for three hours, awaiting helicopter rescue after their boat apparently struck a channel buoy in the dark and sank.
At Houston's Hobby Airport, torrential rain and winds gusting to almost 50 mph led to delay or cancellation of more than a dozen flights. Streets and some homes flooded in Baytown....
On Galveston Island, site of the 1900 hurricane in which at least 6,000 died, water jetted high into the air along the city's seawall, then cascaded to the pavement in a thunderous deluge.
At Seawall Boulevard and 61st Street, a portion of a fishing pier collapsed into the angry waves.
On the island's unprotected western end, FM 3005 was strewn with debris washed from the ground level of the elevated houses that crowd the beaches. Officials Monday had recommended voluntary evacuations from that area.
Across San Luis Pass at Surfside Beach, in Brazoria County, a quarter-mile expanse of 10- to-12-foot-tall sand dunes was swept away. Like FM 3005, Surfside's Blue Water Highway was littered with debris, and roadways leading to beachside homes were inundated. Cars were washed 10 blocks from where their owners had parked them.
There is some minor cleanup that needs to be done around where we live- downed tree limbs, debris in the streets, etc. Thankfully, it appears that no one here lost a roof or, worse, their home or their life. Such are the risks one takes when you live on the Texas Gulf Coast.
