TEXAS HIT BY BAD HURRICANE

Grey River Argus, 6 October 1949, Page 5

TEXAS HIT BY BAD HURRICANE

NEW YORK, October 4

A tropical hurricane hit Houston, Texas, to-day, and drove 50,000 persons from their homes in ten cities as it roared northwards out of the Gulf of Mexico. Residents of Houston cowered in the basements of their homes, or in public shelters as the storm screamed overhead.

Rain driven by wind gusts of up to 100 miles an hour swept the area in horizontal sheets. Power and telephone lines were knocked down throughout the area, and large sections of Houston were blacked out as light poles and power-lines fell under the storm’s fury. No casualties are reported. As the storm swept inland it hit many towns, including the large city of Galveston. The storm swirled in a circle over a radius of 50 miles. At Galveston the hurricane threw a big tide over the city’s sea wall, Hooding two Federal housing projects and 100 private homes. The tide hit the west end of the sea wall, which was erected after the hurricane in 1900. The hurricane in that year hurled a tidal wave over the city and killed 6000 persons. (Rec. 10.10) NEW YORK, Oct. 4 Another hurricane struck south Texas to-day. It has caused damage estimated- at two million dollars. This was mainly tq rice, and cotton crops. One woman was killed by a fallen power line. More than fifty thousand people have temporarily been driven from their homes by the storm.