Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 74, No. 35, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 2, 1981 Page: 6 of 12
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PAGE 6-PALAUOS BEACON; WE»r. SEPT. 2,1981
Carla: WeHad Warning;Never to be Forgotten
16*Ft. Tidal Wave Cause (M Most Loss
Surviving in a storm
such as Hurricane Carla
is difficult, but trying to
survive its aftermath can
also be challenging. That
was what faced theresi-
dents of Palacios and
other areas after Carla
had spent the thrust of
her tremendous winds
and storm surge on this
quiet coastal community.
Returning in Carla’s'
wake, residents found
their homes damaged,
destroyed or, as m many
cases, did not find them
at all. Businesses as well
as homeowners found
themselves calling it
quits and going else-
where or picking up the
remains and starting all
over from scratch.
For almost all, it was
not much of a decision,
after all this was their
home-with or without a
house.
Immediately after the
storm passed the city
acted quickly in warning
residents not to use city
water for drinking and to
keep an eye out for
downed electrical wires
which were everywhere.
Also posing a definite
problem were the hun-
dreds of snakes which
had also been forced
from their homes and
could be found every-
where.
The —Texas Highway
Patrol was put on alert at
all entrances to the city
to keep sightseers out of
the disaster area. A
Coast Guard Unit patrol-
led all the beaches and
planes were on continous
searching missions for
persons who may have
been stranded.
A short while later
three National Guard
units were sent to Pala-
cios.
The city government
was forced to set up
operations in what had
formerly been the old
USO building and later
Bayview Hospital locat-
ed on South Bay. Cily
secretary Bessie Belknap
had her office directly
across from the matern-
ity ward.
Damage estimates to
public buildings alone in
Palacios were over $3-
million and county agri-
cultural losses estimated
over S5-million. Twenty-
six bridges in Pet. 3 were
knocked out. In the first
few days after Carla,
County Commissioner
Billy Harrison had elev-
en bulldozers burying
500 dead cattle in Pet. 3.
At the end, 1,000s ~of
cattle within the county
perished. In the rural
area, 60=90 percent of
the farms were either
Carla’s 20th anniversary
FOR THREE DAYS during a September weekend
p 20-years ago, one of nature’s most awesome
>:& forces--# hurricane -raged toward the Texas
P coastline, drawing the nation’s attention to the
■M Inhabitants of this area.
P ONE THOSE three“days-Saturday, Sept. 9,
P Sunday, Sept. 10 and Monday, Sept. "11,
p 1961-Palaclos experienced destruction unpanlied
:p in its history and hopefully never duplicated in Its
p: future.
HURRICANE CARLA roared ashore our of the
pi Gulf of Mexico packing winds ranging from 150-175
|| mph and forcing a 16-foot storm surge to wash
Widespread damage
was evident throughout
Palacios. Only some of
the steel beams were left
of the landmark Palacios
Pavilion, the concrete
drive pier was reduced to
complete ruin. Only the
beams remained of the
Palacios Marina while
Crawford’s office build-
ing, Crawford machine
shop were completely
gone. The new freezing
plant remained in part
but was severely damag-
ed. All buildings at the
two turning basins were
completely wiped out,
with many homes com-
pletely destroyed and
others moved from their
ashore in Palacios as the eye of the storm crossed :p
over the coastline between Palacios and Port ip
Lavaca. The results were over $400-milllon in j-j::-:;
damage to Texas alone and 34 deaths in the state
attributed to Its fury. The survivors were left with a ip:
memory of those three days that will never be :p
forgotten. ; f§
MARKING THE 20th 'anniversary of Hurricane :p
Carla’s arrival in Palacios, The Beacon has ip
compiled and prepared fhese stories hem various ip
accounts reported In The Beacon during the four :p
months following the storm.
[Headline at top reprinted hern Sept. 14,1961
damaged or destroyed
and 100-percent of*the
unharvested cotton drop
destroyed. Unharvested
rice and com losses were
nearly 50-percent.
While the Corps of
Engineers assisted in
cleaning up debris in the
city, agencies such as
the Red Cross, Salvation
Army and Small Busi-
ness Administration also
went to work assisting
residents. Thousands of
pounds of clothing and
food were flown to the
city from areas through-
out the country. Hun-
dreds of residents^ filled
out applications for Red
Cross assistance.
Those who stay battle wind, water and snakes
. I ' • 11 i n
foundations.
Large shrimp boats
were washed ov,ey the
highway with one near
the cemetery and the
John Crawfords a block
north of where the Loop
Drive Inn stood before
being completely demol-
ished.
Tworoncrete pavilions
on south bay were des-
troyed and another dam-
aged; the weather tower
collapsed; and the public
library ruined.
Going the other way
from the pavilion, many
houses were severely
damaged on south bay;
Baptist Grounds lost the
cafeteria completely, the
Mlarge Houston house,
/[and others with the old
c college administration
and the auditorium se-
verely damaged. The
Bayshore Garage still
stood but was a total
loss; the Campbell Terry
and M. T. Brooking brick
homes; severely dam-
aged; Camp Allen and
Silver Courts, Pierce &
Son Boat Works, G. T.
Brooking’s office and
boat house and Florida
type house and other
boat houses on Grassy
Point road are gone.
The junior high school
had five feet of water in
the cafeteria, gym and
administrative offices. A
good amount of damage
was also inflicted at East
Side Elementary.
The J. E. and Joe
Tanner residences and
station were a total loss;
as was the Glendale
Courts. Phillip’s 66 sta-
tion was gutted, Y-Texa-
co station and the Y-cafe
and Harbor Inn were
severely damaged if not
a total loss.
Foley VHtage had a
number of houses wash-
ed over the highway
blocking the road with
many destroyed and a
great many more severe-
ly damaged. A few suf-
fered only slight dam-
age.
Residences through-
out Palacios were either
destroyed or damaged.
Only a few escaped
damage of some sort.
Curtis Grocery. Mad-
dox Motor and Ramsey
Gulf Station suffered in
the early part of the
storm as plate glass
windows were blown in,
making them vulnerable
for extensive damage.
Carla forced about one
fourth of the people in
Palacios to more or less
camp out in its wake.
Some because they had"
lost their homes com-
pletely or others because
of such extensive dam-
age that it was imposs-
ible to live in them until
repairs had been made.
Neighbors and friends'
made room for some by
doubling up the best
they could; others moved
into the remaining public
buildings which were
converted into tempor-
ary living quarters. Fam-
ilies of four and- five
made their ‘home’ in one
room in tourist courts.
Some of the more fortuf
nate found small apart-
ments or duplexes avail-
able. Most ended up
living out of cardboard
boxes that contained the
only worldly possessions
that remained, finding
out how few pans and
dishes they really need-
ed to make a meal with.
The shrimpers began
going out and bringing
in a good supply of
shrimp, but in the pro-
cess also tore alot of
their nets on the strange
objects they encountered
sunk in the bay. It took a
long time before one
could be certain just
where to toss a net and
bring in nothing but
shrimp.
Shrimpers and other
boaters found many dif-
ferent changes in the bay
and at the passes. Some
six new passes—were
opened by Carla at the 1
peninsulawhile the area
at Half Moon reef was
completely altered.
Palacios had received early
warnings and was mostly evacuat-
ed in anticipation of the much
publicized hurricane-Carla-which
had been described as one of the
worst in history.
When hurricane warnings began
coming closer Thursday, Friday
and growing more alarming on
Saturday, September 9, signs of
boarding up began and boats of all
kinds started departing for safe
harbors. Everyone was praying
they were just doing so as a
necessary precaution.
Precautions led into reality as
Palacios began suffering strong
easterly winds early Sunday and
picked up intensity later in the day.
By Sunday night wind speed had"
increased significantly. At 3 p.m.
when radio reported theeye hadtot"
Matagorda Island the wind
increased still more and more,
before shifting to a more souther-
ly direction ana began whipping in
the dangerous and destructive
tides off the bay.
By 4:55 p.m. Monday the tide
was curb high—along Commerce
Street and only 15 minutes later
was over a foot deep inside the
buildings lining the street. It was
later measured that the" storm
surge brought in bv Carla was.
almost 16-teet. The tide, fortunate-
ly began receding rapidly as the
storm blew over and had already
gone down a bit by 7 p.m. By that
time, however, the damage had
already been done to nearly the
entire area of this small coastal
town.
Becky and Norris Crawford went
riding around town about 8:15
Sunday night and there were some
windows out in homes, but so many
trees were blowing down it was
dangerous to do much driving, and
Norris was busy checking on the
Crawford’s boats that were left
there.
Mayor Marvin Curtis, as head of
the local Civil Defense, remained
in town and sent his family to San
Antonio. With the capable assis-
tance of- the entire local police
force, county law officers and
volunteers from the Palacios Fire
Department under Chief Sherwood
Barber, and men from the CP&L
Company, Mayor Curtis said they
all worked together and put in a
rough night.
At one time they had to fight a
fire which broke out in the Faubion
building after 10 p.m. Sunday due
to a short in the wiring. Fighting
the elements turned out to be
worse than fighting the fire.
Reporters from Lite Magazine
were with this group during the
entire storm period, taking on-the-
spot pictures. Late Sunday night or
early Monday' morning things got
so rough that the group had to
make their headquarters at the
Wagner General Hospital where a
skeleton force remained for emer-
gencies doing their best to help
everyone there.
Barber said he had the largest
crew of those who volunteered to
help, 11 men, or enough for two
full crews on the fire trucks. Lester
Morton drove one of the-trucks
taking evacuees to the hospital.
Others assisting throughout the
storm were Potsy Curtis, E. T.
Miller, James Penland, Tom -Hilf
Homer Aparicio and Jim Treybig.
The wind blowing 90 miles plusr
the drivers had to creep along at
five miles per hour or so, as they
couldn't see a thing at night. They
all considered themselves "lucky
that the flying tin, falling trees and
other items hurled by the wind
missed them.
Penland and Jenkins and those
in police cars had to join those on
the fire truck when their car
couldn't gel through on streets due
to high water.
The men were called to the
Faubion home and Luther Hotel as
small tires had started from
electrical shortages.,.
When the situation got to the
point where it looked best to move
to the hospital, all the men from
police, fire and CP&L crews started
for that location. Barber remained
all night at the telephone office to
keep lines open. The CP&L crew
had stayed at their station until the
water came in and under the
direction of Red Richards, they
started for the hospital. Before
they managed to reach the hospi-
tal, their truck drowned out near
the East Side Elementary School.
By using a tight line and men
wading in waist deep' water to get
from one pole to the next, they
wenched their way to the Lutheran
Church, where those at the church
gave them hot coffee and dry
ctothes,
Monday morning between 10
and 11, Nell Kimball, Mabel and
Dick rode around town to see how
the storm was progressing. By that
time Carla was getting into high
gear, having already paid its
destructive visit on' Curtis Grocery
and the Ford Garage.
Mabel wanted to drive out Hwy.
35, but there was too much waterr
It definitely wasn’t like a pleasant
Sunday morning drive around
town. Yet so fascinating, they sat
on their front porch at noon
watching the waves rolling in over
the bay. Like a fire, though
destructive, there is something
fascinating about rolling waves
that keeps drawing one to watch
them. During the entire storm
period, Mabel saidtherewas never
anything like a tidal wave, only the
rolling waves flowing endlessly in.
Their garage door jammed tight-—
ly so theycould not get their car out
by the time they decided it was
best to leave. Without a car, they
had to settle tor going into their
garage apartment on their proper-
ty. Hazen said that if the water got
much higher, they would go to the
Post Office where, they learned
later, postmaster Cornell Prindle
had spent two nights.
Mr. and Mrs. A. E; Duffy and
Lucille, Elizabeth Gilbert and Miss
Metcalf were casually having an
early dinner at 11 a.m. Monday, so
that Mrs. Duffy could have her
dishes washed by the time the
storm hil. The Brandon family
went over to see how they were
faring and by this time the water
was coming over the seawall by the,
Pavilion. Mr. Duffy received an eye,'
injury when a door suddenly blew,'
open.
The Ray Baltar family stayed at,
the Crawford home. Ed Culbertson. '
rode the storm out" in his home'
while the Bob Herlin’s took refuge,,
in the Wright Warehouse in;.
Blessing.
Mr. and Mrs. James J. Spruiel,
had spent Sunday night with the,;
Guy Claybourn’s and on Monday 1,
they found things a bit hectic as the."'
bay began rolling in. They decided '
to move to the hospital.
Spruiel had backed their car on *'
the lee side of the house, and*'
accidently left the door open and1'
when they got ready to leave they ,
found the battery dead. Blanche
noticed their garage was about1;
ready to fall, so they tried’
desperately to get the car out. The
men eventually took the battery^
from Claybourns car and put it into '
Spruiel’s. Blanche hurried over to ;
Verlin Murphy’s to advise them H ;
was time to move on. She had some'
difficulty making them hear due to"
so much noise from the elements. j
(See Page ’71
RemalnsoftheTandmark Palacios Pavilion following Hurricane Carla’s destruction,
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Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 74, No. 35, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 2, 1981, newspaper, September 2, 1981; Palacios, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth726135/m1/6/: accessed June 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Palacios Library.