‘Alicia’ hits coast

Press, 19 August 1983, Page 6

‘Alicia’ hits coast

NZPA Galveston Hurricane Alicia slammed into the Texas coast yesterday with sustained winds of 122 km/h, tossing boats and cars, tearing down trees and building tides.

Thousands fled Galveston, the scene of America’s worst hurricane disaster in 1900, as well as smaller communities up and down the coast. Businesses and homes along the Gulf of Mexico were boarded up and schools, factories, colleges and parks were closed as. residents moved inland.

Hurricane warnings were posted along a 804 km stretch of coastline from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Morgan City, Louisiana, as the slow-moving but rapidly building storm headed towards a landfall.

The leading edge of the hurricane lashed the coastline with sustained winds of 122 km/h gusting to 164 km/ h and built tides I.Bm above normal in the Galveston area. Tides at least three metres above normal and up to 38cm of rain were

expected. Trees were blown down on Galveston Island and boats had been tossed from trailers and twisted into useless debris. The wind also pulled down signs along the beach.

A 50 metre supply boat was listed as “unreported” in hurricane-churned waters. The National Hurricane Centre in Miamidescribed Alicia as “dangerous.”

In Galveston the Mayor, Mr Russ Manuel, called on people remaining on Galveston Island, to “stay put and ride it out.” The main roadway to Houston, 80km inland, was nearly under water. Houston residents cleaned out the shelves of many supermarkets for supplies of milk, food, candles and batteries for flashlights. The Red Cross set up emergency headquarters in numerous communities and placed 33 mobile feeding vans along the coast."