Hurricane Audrey facts for kids
Radar image of Audrey prior to landfall
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| Meteorological history | |
|---|---|
| Formed | June 25, 1957 |
| Dissipated | June 29, 1957 |
| Category 3 tropical cyclone | |
| 1-minute sustained (SSHWS/NWS) | |
| Highest winds | 125 mph (205 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | 946 mbar (hPa); 27.94 inHg |
| Overall effects | |
| Fatalities | 416 |
| Damage | $150 million (1957 USD) |
| Areas affected | South Central United States (particularly Texas and Louisiana), Southeastern United States, Midwestern United States, New England, Quebec, Ontario |
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Part of the 1957 Atlantic hurricane season |
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Hurricane Audrey was one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history, killing at least 416 people as it devastated the southwestern Louisiana coast in 1957. Along with Hurricane Alex in 2010, it was also the strongest June hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin as measured by pressure.
Prior to making landfall, Audrey severely disrupted offshore drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico. Damages from offshore oil facilities alone was estimated at $16 million. Audrey caused much of its destruction near the border between Texas and Louisiana. The hurricane's strong winds resulted in widespread property and infrastructural damage. Power outages also resulted from the strong winds. However, as is typical with most landfalling tropical cyclones, most of the destruction at the coast was the result of the hurricane's strong storm surge, which was amplified by Audrey's rapid strengthening just prior to landfall. The storm surge was reported to have peaked as high as 12 ft (3.7 m), inundating coastal areas. Damage from the surge alone extended 25 mi (40 km) inland. In Louisiana and Texas, where Audrey first impacted, the damage toll was $128 million.
After moving inland and transitioning into an extratropical cyclone, Audrey caused additional damage across the interior United States. In the United States, Audrey killed at least 416 people, though the final death total may never be known. Damage totaled $147 million in the country, at the time the fifth-costliest hurricane recorded in the US since 1900. The name Audrey was later retired from usage as an identifier for an Atlantic hurricane.
Meteorological history
The formation and development of Hurricane Audrey was multi-faceted. One contributor to Audrey's formation—an area of anomalously intense low-pressure areas roughly 10,000 ft (3,000 m) above sea level—was first detected in the western Caribbean Sea on June 11. In an analysis of weather patterns from June 1957, Weather Bureau meteorologist William H. Klein noted the potential for research on similar disturbances to shed light on tropical cyclone development. Concurrently, surface observations suggested the progression of a disorganized tropical wave tracking westward across the Caribbean Sea beginning on June 20, eventually entering the Bay of Campeche on June 22. At 12:00 UTC on June 24 (7:00 a.m. CST), storms associated with the wave organized into a tropical depression based on ship reports in the bay; at the time, the first indication of a developing tropical cyclone originated from a report from a shrimp boat. The depression was in a highly favorable environment for intensification in the western Gulf of Mexico; sea surface temperatures in the area were at 85 °F (29 °C), or 3 °F (2 °C), which were above normal for the time of year. In addition, the latitudinal alignment of a polar trough over the Great Plains and the nascent disturbance in the Bay of Campeche created an environment suitable for outflow in the upper-levels of the atmosphere. Taking advantage of these conditions, Audrey intensified into a tropical storm just six hours after being classified as a tropical depression, as it remained nearly stationary.
On June 25, the first reconnaissance aircraft to probe Audrey, a P-2 Neptune, reached the system to assess its strength, concluding that Audrey had strengthened into a hurricane on 18:00 UTC that day (1:00 p.m. CST), capping off an initial phase of rapid intensification about 380 mi (610 km) southeast of Brownsville, Texas. Now moving slowly northward around the periphery of a ridge of high pressure over the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the storm's strengthening slowed on June 26, though reconnaissance revealed an increase in the storm's rainfall. The following day, Audrey entered a second phase of intensification as it accelerated towards the United States Gulf Coast, reaching the equivalent of a modern-day Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale at 00:00 UTC on June 27 (7:00 p.m. CST June 26) and Category 3 status just six hours later. Between the final observation from aircraft and landfall, the storm's pressure had deepened by roughly 30 mbar (hPa; 0.89 inHg). The last observation near the storm's center occurred approximately five hours before landfall by the tanker Tillamook, documenting a pressure of 969 mbar (hPa; 27.94 inHg) at the western edge of the storm's eyewall. At 13:30 UTC (8:30 a.m. CST) on June 27, Audrey made landfall at peak intensity just east of the border between Texas and Louisiana with winds of 125 mph (200 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 946 mbar (hPa; 28.61 inHg). An oil rig observed conditions that suggested a much stronger storm with winds of 180 mph (290 km/h) and a pressure of 925 mbar (hPa; 27.32 inHg), but those were discarded as erroneous. Radar and ground observations suggested the storm had concentric eyewalls at the time of landfall, resulting in two wind maxima. Operationally, Audrey was assessed to have been a Category 4 hurricane at landfall, with various estimation methods suggesting a much lower barometric pressure, however the Atlantic hurricane reanalysis project reassessed the system having a lower peak intensity.
Audrey gradually weakened and turned to the northeast after moving inland, degenerating to a tropical storm on June 28. An approaching cold front caused Audrey to evolve into an extratropical cyclone, completing this transition on June 29 over West Virginia with a final pressure of 995 mbar (hPa; 29.38 inHg). At the same time, a second extratropical cyclone developed near Chicago, Illinois and tracked eastward. Six hours later, the remnants of Audrey were absorbed by this second extratropical cyclone over the Great Lakes. The interaction of Audrey with this second system led to the merged extratropical cyclone unexpectedly intensifying, producing hurricane-force winds as it moved across the Northeastern United States, aided in part by an unusual warming of the stratosphere. As an extratropical system, Audrey reached a minimum pressure of 974 mbar (hPa; 28.76 inHg) roughly 140 mi (230 km) north of Buffalo, New York in southwestern Quebec; the post-tropical strengthening of Audrey was reminiscent to that of Hurricane Hazel in 1954.
Preparations
Although Audrey's formation was not explicitly forecast, the Weather Bureau in Miami, Florida, had issued its first experimental 30-day hurricane forecast on June 17, underscoring a high likelihood for the development of one or two tropical storms in the forecast period. The first bulletin on Audrey was issued by the Weather Bureau office in New Orleans, Louisiana, at 04:30 UTC on June 25 (11:30 p.m. CST June 24), while Audrey was still a tropical depression in the Bay of Campeche. A hurricane watch was posted for the coasts of Texas and Louisiana the following day. A hurricane warning was issued for the entirety of the Louisiana coast at 10 a.m. CST on June 26, with the Weather Bureau highlighting similarities in the paths of Audrey and Hurricane Flossy in 1956; experience with Flossy aided in part in convincing Grand Isle, Louisiana, residents to evacuate. At the same time, northwest storm warnings were issued for the Texas coast east of Galveston, while southeast storm warnings were issued for the U.S. Gulf Coast between Louisiana and Pensacola, Florida. Small coastal craft from Brownsville, Texas, to Panama City, Florida, were advised to remain in port. Hurricane warnings were later extended westward to High Island, Texas by June 27. Although warnings were issued 24 hours before landfall, the acceleration of Audrey as it neared land surprised meteorologists and residents.
In total, approximately 75,000 people evacuated from low-lying areas on the United States Gulf Coast in advance of Audrey. Due to the threat of inundation of the bridge over Rollover Pass, 270 beach houses and other homes on the lower end of the Bolivar Peninsula were evacuated, with evacuees staying at either nearby Fort Travis or Port Bolivar. Offshore oil rigs were secured, with hundreds of personnel evacuated by helicopter on June 26, including those operated by Kerr-McGee, Gulf Oil, and Humble Oil. An estimated 50,000 people in total evacuated from Port Arthur, Texas, while all except two families evacuated Sabine Pass; about 2,000 people evacuated from Orange, Texas, with another 1,000 evacuating from Beaumont, Texas. The American Red Cross opened fifteen shelters in Port Arthur which eventually housed 5,000. Four hundred children in church camps in Galveston were evacuated inland to Baytown, Texas. A public shelter program was established for Louisiana evacuees by the state civil defense, invoking National Guard equipment and personnel; all civil defense groups in the state were ordered to place key men on 24-hour duty. Evacuation procedures began on Grand Isle, Louisiana on June 26, culminating in the evacuation of 3,400 people; however, 600 people opted to remain in Grand Isle. Most of Cameron, Louisiana, was evacuated, while the remaining sought refuge in the town's courthouse and other structures. Red Cross shelters in Lake Charles, Louisiana housed 19,000 refugees and issued food rations to 30,000 people. The United States Air Force and United States Navy evacuated 115 North American T-28 Trojans from Naval Outlying Landing Field Barin in Alabama to Barksdale Air Force Base. Similarly, aircraft and personnel were evacuated out of Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi, and the Gulfport Combat Readiness Training Center in Gulfport, Mississippi.
The high death toll caused by Audrey was partially blamed on the incompleteness of evacuations before the storm made landfall, attributed by meteorologist Robert Simpson to a lack of proper communication between coastal residents and forecasters. Although the Weather Bureau's advisories and warnings were technically accurate, they were found in Bartie v. United States to have lacked a sense of urgency or emergency. The warnings advised the evacuation of "low or exposed areas," but many inland residents at an elevation of 7–8 ft (2.1–2.4 m) did not consider themselves to be at a low elevation. In addition, newly elected city officials in Lake Charles, Louisiana, edited warnings and advisories disseminated by a local radio broadcast, tailoring the bulletins to local residents by trimming details deemed irrelevant and possibly resulting in a hesitance to evacuate until it was too late.
Impact
The Weather Bureau initially estimated that the death toll from Audrey was over 500, with the cost of damage estimated between $150–200 million. Other estimates indicated that the death toll amounted to 390, including 263 identified and 127 unidentified persons. An additional 192 people were reported as missing. The National Weather Service report on the most impactful tropical cyclones in the United States lists Audrey as having caused at least 416 fatalities, with an additional 15 killed in Canada. Audrey was the deadliest hurricane to strike the United States since the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane, which killed approximately 2,500, and comparable to all storms affecting the country in the previous decade combined. Nearly all deaths were attributed to storm surge drowning.
Aftermath
Rescue parties from the United States Coast Guard were quickly dispatched for the Cameron area in search for survivors. The Coast Guard also dispatched a cutter from New Orleans with medical supplies for affected regions. More than 40,000 people were left homeless, with many were housed at McNeese State University in Lake Charles until they could be permanently resettled. Statues were erected in honor of those killed by Audrey in southwestern Louisiana, including Highland Memorial Park in Lake Charles where 33 were buried.
Audrey's storm surge on the Louisiana coastline began receding 10 hours after the storm struck, with the ocean returning to normal levels in around 1.5 days. Despite the brief period of submersion, the morphology of the coast changed significantly; about 50% of the coast had retreated inland, with a large amount of sedimentation occurring primarily in the form of mudflats. One arc of mud deposited on the coast measured 11,350 ft (3,460 m) in length and 1,000 ft (300 m) in width. In Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge, saltwater inundation of habitats led to a significant decrease in waterfowl and plants susceptible to saltwater like bullwhips; damage in the refuge set back management and development plans for the area by two years. Other plants intolerant to saltwater sustained a four-year decrease in productivity. Nutria, muskrat, raccoon, rabbit, and deer populations experienced 60% mortality, while mink and otters fared comparatively better. All animal nests were swept away by either the rough surf or strong winds.
The destruction wrought by Audrey on Cameron, Louisiana, was credited as contributing to the successful evacuation of Cameron Parish in advance of Hurricane Carla four years later, with the parish having a higher evacuation rate (96%) than any other location surveyed in the aftermath of Carla despite being at the edge of the warning area; however, the relevance of the so-called "Audrey effect" in the Carla evacuations is disputed.
The extensive storm surge caused by the hurricane represented the first research opportunity for the newly formed National Hurricane Research Project (NHRP) to investigate a major tropical cyclone inundation event since the organization's inception in 1954. After investigating the extent of the surge, the NHRP concluded that despite the abundant availability of storm tide observations, a lack of inland information prevented a detailed reconstruction of Audrey's surge; such data would help inform local emergency decisions and improve surge forecasting. Following the guidance of the NHRP, the Weather Bureau began installing additional tide recorders along the coast after Hurricane Audrey.
Due to the damage and fatalities caused by Audrey, the name was retired and will never be used again for an Atlantic tropical cyclone.
See also
- List of Texas hurricanes (1950–79)
- List of Category 3 Atlantic hurricanes
- Other tropical cyclones named Audrey
Storms affecting similar areas:
- Hurricane Carmen (1974) – A Category 4 hurricane that devastated the Yucatán Peninsula and southern Louisiana
- Hurricane Rita (2005) – A Category 5 hurricane that caused major damage as a Category 3 hurricane in southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas
- Hurricane Laura (2020) – A devastating Category 4 hurricane that caused widespread destruction across western Louisiana and eastern Texas
Other strong early-season hurricanes:
- 1909 Velasco hurricane – A Category 3 hurricane that devastated the Texas coast
- 1916 Gulf Coast hurricane – A destructive Category 3 hurricane that struck the central Gulf Coast of the United States
- Hurricane Beryl (2024) – A record-breaking Category 5 hurricane that moved through the Caribbean Sea
