A date to remember
August 3, 2010 (Tuesday)
As best I can recall, the date, August 3, had no special meaning for me for the first half of my life. For the second half, however, it has held special meaning as an anniversary. Today, August 3, is the 40th anniversary of Hurricane Celia. I have remembered that storm ever since; its anniversary brings up memories.
Our family took a vacation that year to California. We visited Disneyland, Yosemite Valley, and lots of other places. It had been an exciting trip. It was to be followed by an exciting day when the hurricane came to Rockport.
It is probably safe to say that every structure in the storm’s path was affected to some degree by the storm. The church lost its roof. It was constructed of 2 X 6 Spruce timber, with each plank held to the next by a long nail that could well have passed for a spike. Even larger nails secured the roof to laminated beams. The roof landed a block away at the Oddfellows Hall on S. Church and Wharf Streets. A man later hauled it away and built a barn with it. Celia produced wind gusts estimated up to 200 mph between Rockport and Aransas Pass. The damage afterwards reached to a clearly definable line that ran through Fulton. North of that line there was little, if any, damage.
Our church buildings had to be repaired, but the First Baptist Church of Portland was damaged beyond repair. It had to be rebuilt. Nothing of their worship center was left standing except the two ends of the building, like bookends without anything between. A staff member and his family from a Corpus church went to Zephyr and took refuge in the W.M.U. building. They huddled in a closet. When the winds subsided, they opened the door and discovered the rest of the building gone. When the storm reached Crystal City, over 200 miles away, it still had an eye and 90 mph winds.
August 3, 1970 will not be forgotten by those who lived through the storm that day. Many people who live on the coast have never seen a hurricane. I hope they never will, but that hope will probably not be fulfilled. Before that day, everyone talked about the September storm of 1919 when many people died. It was much worse than the 1970 storm. We need to take hurricanes seriously, and do whatever is necessary to protect human lives.