June 5, 2015 (Friday)
Hurricane season began June 1. If I’m not mistaken, the east coast had already had a tropical storm before the season began.
In 1964, when we arrived in Rockport, a topic of conversation almost every day was the 
1919 Hurricane, which devastated the entire Coastal Bend, and killed 40 people in Rockport alone. I don’t know the death toll for the other areas, but I do know that Corpus Christi was hit hard and bodies of victims were stacked like cord wood by the old Federal Courthouse. An eyewitness told me so. People stood on the mezzanine of the old Nueces hotel and watched the rising water carry through the lobby everything from horses and cows to cars and wagons. People here in Rockport also talked much about Hurricane Carla, which had hit the Texas coast just two years before we moved here, but they talked about the 1919 storm more. It had happened 45 years before our arrival.
In 1967 we had a wet storm with many tornadoes. Her name was Beulah. She left floods over the entire southern half of this state. Three years later in 1970 came Celia, a small storm on satellite pictures, but a huge one in terms of damage to structures. Our old church building downtown lost its roof. It didn’t rain much but a soft salt spray descended on the contents and everything had to be replaced or renewed. That has been 45 years ago. I understand a little better now how folks could still talk about the 1919 storm, 45 years after it had happened. They had experienced many other storms in between, however–not like the present long period without hurricanes here.
There is no longer anyone around who was here in 1919, because that was 96 years ago. Oh, there may be someone that old or older still living here, but they would not likely be able to remember. There are, however, many eyewitnesses of several bad storms still living here today. If you just ask them, they will be happy to tell you all about them.
I guess my point is, we need to know that our long stretch of years without a storm is no guarantee that there won’t be one this year. They nearly always come here in September but they can come anytime during the hurricane season (Celia hit on August 3).
There is always something to laugh about in the midst of being upset. In 1970, after Celia, the company that had hauled away the church’s opera seats for repair offered to provide brand new pews at the same price. So we had a vote. When we counted the ballots, there were 49 for fixing the chairs, 48 for new pews, and one “apple box.” If the “apple box” voter had voted for pews, I would have had to break the tie vote. I’m glad I didn’t have to make that decision. We fixed the chairs. I suppose they are still in use.