Research Studies

A Historical Study of Tropical Storms and Hurricanes that have affected Southwest Louisiana and Southeast Texas (continued)

Memorable Storms in the Lake Charles CWA: The Rainmakers

In order to see which storms had a significant rainfall contribution to the area, rainfall data from Beaumont/Port Arthur and Lake Charles were compiled from months when tropical cyclones were in the region. Months that showed rain totals greater than six inches were further investigated. Those months were checked for individual storm totals. For Lake Charles, data from 1893 to present were used. For Beaumont/Port Arthur, Jefferson County Airport (just north of Port Arthur) was used as the source of data from 1946 to present and prior to that, the city of Beaumont was used back to 1901.

Southeast Texas rain events during tropical cyclones tend to be slightly greater than those that have occurred at Lake Charles during this time span. Storms which produced at least six inches of rain are listed in Table 2 in order of decreasing predominance.

It is worth noting that the slower a tropical cyclone moves, the more rainfall it is likely to produce. Allison and Claudette, as tropical storms, produced greater than 30 and 40 inches of rain respectively in sections of Southeast Texas, causing significant, and in the case of Claudette, unprecedented river flooding about a week later. Both cyclones essentially stalled over a period of two days north of Houston in order to produce these excessive rains.

Table 2a: Tropical Cyclones and Their Associated Deluges for Beaumont/Port Arthur				Table 2b: Tropical Cyclones and Their Associated Deluges for Lake Charles
STORM	YEAR	DURATION OF RAIN	RAIN TOTAL	STORM	YEAR	DURATION OF RAIN	RAIN TOTAL
Cindy	1963	4 days	17.52"	Allison	1989	5 days	14.05"
Danielle	1980	2 days	17.17"	Number 2	1940	2 days	11.65"
Allison	1989	7 days	15.96"	Number 2	1915	4 days	10.73"
Number 2	1915	5 days	15.47"	Delia	1973	3 1/6 days	9.99"
Claudette	1979	4 days	12.83"	Juan	1985	4 2/3 days	9.92"
Number 10	1949	3 days	10.82"	Claudette	1979	2 3/8 days	9.18"
Number 1	1943	1 day	10.34"	Debra	1959	2 1/3 days	7.78"
Juan	1985	6 days	10.25"	Audrey	1957	22 hours	6.90"
Debra	1959	3 days	7.69"	Number 10	1949	3 days	6.10"
Number 2	1940	3 days	7.07"

In addition, a developing tropical low moved into extreme Southwestern Louisiana late in August of 1962 and caused 22 inches of rain at the Sabine Wildlife Refuge, along with several tornadoes, to the east of its point of landfall. This shows you that even if a system is weak, it may become more than a mere nuisance to the area. Floods after Claudette and Allison caused headaches for as long as two weeks after the storms had moved away from the region

Memorable Storms in the Lake Charles CWA: Fatalities

Table 3 lists those storms while in the area of study resulted in losses of life of 25 or more. This table shows a trend of decreasing death tolls from hurricanes as you move from the past into the present. It is worth noting that the last storm to cause such a loss was Betsy back in 1965 which can be attributed to better preparation and to better warnings considering three of the eight major hurricanes struck the region after Betsy (Carmen, Alicia, and Andrew).

Table 3: Hurricanes and Their Fatalities
STORM	YEAR	DEATHS
Galveston Hurricane	1900	8,000
Number 8	1893	2,000
Audrey	1957	390
Number 2	1915	275
Betsy	1965	75
Number 4	1947	51
Number 2	1932	40
Hilda	1964	39
Number 1	1918	34
Number 3	1926	25

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