Tropical Storm Frances (1998)
Tropical Storm Frances caused extensive flooding in Mexico and Texas in September 1998. The sixth tropical cyclone and sixth named storm of the annual hurricane season, Frances developed from a low pressure area in the Gulf of Mexico on September 8. The cyclone moved northward through the western Gulf of Mexico, making landfall across the central Texas coastline before recurving across the Midwest through southeast Canada and New England. A large tropical cyclone for the Atlantic basin, yet an average sized system by western Pacific standards, the storm produced heavy rains across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Texas, western Louisiana and the Great Plains.
Frances making landfall on September 11
Hurricane Carla was the most intense tropical cyclone landfall in Texas in the 20th century. The third named storm of the 1961 Atlantic hurricane season, Carla developed from an area of squally weather in the southwestern Caribbean Sea on September 3. As a tropical depression, it strengthened while heading northwest. The system was upgraded to a tropical storm on September 5 and reached hurricane intensity on September 6. On September 7, Carla entered the Gulf of Mexico, passing northeast of the Yucatán Peninsula. On the morning of September 11, Carla became a category 5 hurricane when winds reached 175 mph. Carla made landfall at 2 p.m. on September 11 near Port O'Connor, Texas as a category 4 hurricane with a peak intensity of 145 mph. Traveling inland, the storm was reduced to a tropical storm on September 12 and transitioned into an extratropical cyclone on September 13, while centered over southern Oklahoma. Carla's remnants reached the Labrador Sea, Canada and dissipated on September 17, 1961.
Satellite image of Hurricane Carla on September 10.
Radar image of Carla from WSR-57 in Galveston, Texas
A house destroyed by Hurricane Carla in Port O'Connor, Texas
Tidal flooding caused by Hurricane Carla