Celia was a category 4 storm with sustained winds of 140 mph, measured at Corpus Christi International Airport and 130 mph at Aransas Pass. The tropical cyclone weakened down to a tropical storm by the time it reached interior Texas near Cotulla, but remained tropical storm strength as it passed Del Rio, producing a million dollars of damage to the city. The central pressure dropped 44 mb in 15 hours, plummeting to 944 mb or 27.88 inches of mercury (measured at Ingleside) at landfall during the afternoon of August 3 rd. Conditions worsened quickly as Celia underwent rapid intensification prior to landfall. For residents and visitors that waited, there was limited time to make proper preparations or evacuate before Celia made landfall. Hurricane warnings were issued on the morning of August 3 rd for Corpus Christi for a high end category 1 or low end category 2 storm (90 to 100 mph sustained winds). However, Celia stayed on track for a direct hit on Corpus Christi. Hurricane warnings were issued for the Upper Texas Coast during the morning of August 2 nd. The intensification was brief as winds decreased to 90 mph during the morning of August 2 nd (see map below).Īlthough Celia remained on a west-northwest course, the forecast anticipated a turn to the right prior to landfall in Texas. Celia quickly intensified into a major hurricane by late afternoon with sustained winds measured at 115 mph and a central pressure drop of 25 millibars (mb) over an 8-hour period. The tropical depression clipped the northern portion of Cuba and became Tropical Storm Celia (winds greater than or equal to 39 mph) during the morning of August 1 st when it entered the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Celia formed into a tropical depression in the northwest Caribbean Sea, west of the Cayman Islands, on July 30 th 1970. Celia's life cycle consisted of two rapid intensification periods, but most interesting was the explosive damaging wind gusts in the western semi-circle of the eye wall, in addition to the typical damaging eastern half of the center Hurricane Celia caused 15 fatalities in South Texas and 466 injuries. Hurricane Celia was the third major hurricane to impact the Middle Texas coast in a 9-year period (Carla in 1961 and Beulah in 1967). On August 3 rd 1970, Hurricane Celia made landfall near Aransas Pass as a major Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale with sustained winds of 140 mph. It has been fifty years since Hurricane Celia blasted the Coastal Bend.
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