Tropical Storm — Cameron, Texas

2008-07-23 to 2008-07-24 · Cameron, Texas

Event narrative

The approach of Hurricane Dolly to the barrier shoreline of South Padre Island early on the morning of July 23rd brought sustained tropical storm force winds inland to the east side of Brownsville, including the Port, just before 730 AM on the 23rd. Prior rainbands had produced frequent gusts to 40 mph, but the arrival of sustained tropical storm winds was soon followed by wind damage and power outages, particularly during the afternoon. Prior to Dolly's landfall along the Cameron/Willacy County line, the western and southern eyewall intensified. The core of the eyewall traversed northern Cameron County, where impacts were more substantial than in southern Cameron County.

Northern Cameron (Harlingen, San Benito, Rio Hondo): A period of estimated and measured sustained winds betwee 60 and 70 mph, with frequent gusts to hurricane force (at least 78 mph measured at 2.25 meters), developed around 1 PM and continue through around 5 PM, beginning in northeast Cameron County near Arroyo City and extending west through Las Yescas, Rio Hondo, Harlingen, San Benito, Palm Valley, and La Feria, not only created widespread freshwater flooding, but created notable damage to poorly fastened roofs and some walls, particularly at industrial parks, strip centers, and farm buildings, especially from Harlingen to points east. Otherwise, numerous large limbs, power lines and power poles, highway signs and billboards, were blown down across the area during this time period.

As Dolly's center eased slowly from southern Willacy into northern Hidalgo County, the last of the sustained tropical storm force winds began to exit Cameron County from Palm Valley to Santa Rosa and La Feria, just after midnight on the 24th.

Southern Cameron: Along and just north of the Rio Grande, from the Kellers Corner/Brownsville Airport area through Brownsville and to points west, roughly along federal highway 281 through Los Indios out toward the Hidalgo/Cameron County line, conditions were a bit more benign, as the core of the southern and western eyewall generally missed the area. Here, sustained tropical storm force winds persisted from around 830 AM until 6 PM, though gusts above 40 mph persisted until near midnight. In this area, sustained wind generally peaked between 45 and 55 mph, with peak gusts just below hurricane force between 1130 AM and 2 PM. Here, damage was primarily to thousands of tree limbs, hundreds of power lines, and many elevated highway signs and billboards, but structural damage was primarily to unfastened shingles of roofs of moderate to well constructed buildings, and occasional failures of more poorly constructed roofs at industrial parks and farm buildings.

At the peak of the storm, power was out to just about all of Cameron County, with an estimated 115,000 customers down during the middle of the afternoon. Across northern Cameron County, power recovery would take days to more than a week, while many locations in southern Cameron County returned to power within a few days after Dolly's passage.

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Dolly, the first storm since Bret (1999) to make landfall along the Deep South Texas barrier islands, left a trail of widespread minor to moderate structural and natural damage across much of the Lower Rio Grande Valley and Deep South Texas on July 23rd, and dumped copious rainfall across the area, causing numerous instances of flooding primarily of low lying and poor drainage locations, as well as filling local resacas and arroyos, and causing notable rises on larger area creeks and rivers. Dolly intensified rapidly to an estimated minimum pressure of 962 mb while drifting northward just east of South Padre Island, and its center made landfall between 1 and 2 PM on July 23rd along the unpopulated shoreline of Cameron and Willacy County. Dolly then eased westward across southern Willacy County through the afternoon, continued into extreme northern Hidalgo County as a tropical storm during the evening, then turned northwest and accelerated through Jim Hogg County during the early morning hours of the 24th, passing into Webb County shortly after sunrise.

The strong winds and heavy rains contributed to widespread power outages in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, where at least 236,000 customers lost power, but possibly upwards of 250,000 - primarily across the more populated regions of Cameron, Hidalgo, and Willacy County. Agricultural experts deemed a substantial loss of cotton and sorghum due to the strong winds and torrential rain. As of the end of Calendar Year 2008, estimated insured property damage (wind) based on the standard doubling of insurance estimates from the Property Claims Service of the Insurance Services Office was $1.05 billion. Reported insured flood damage from FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program is $171 thousand; however, it is estimated that the vast majority of flood damage occurred to uninsured properties, and a rough estimate of total flood damage, which was more widespread, and includes agricultural losses, will likely push total flood-related damages to between $100 and $300 million.

It is conceivable that total damage from all Hurricane Dolly related hazards may have exceeded $1.5 billion.

More than 6,000 Lower Rio Grande Valley residents were housed in temporary shelters from Deep South Texas to San Antonio at the peak of the storm; 13,000 residents across the Lower Rio Grande Valley visited FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers after the storm. As of October 3rd, FEMA had distributed $44 million in relief; $30 million to individual households, nearly $10 million to small businesses through the Small Business Administration, and just under $5 million to local governments for infrastructure repair.

Please note that best estimates will be included on a county by county basis as data is received through the rest of the year.

Storm total rainfall from the evening of July 22nd through the early afternoon of July 24th generally ranged from 4 to 10 inches in Kenedy, Brooks, Starr, Jim Hogg, and Zapata Counties, and 6 to 14 inches in Hidalgo, Willacy, and Cameron Counties, with locally more than 18 inches possible in the persistent southern eyewall in northern Cameron and southern Willacy Counties. Widespread freshwater flooding occurred in these areas as Dolly moved through, and low lying, poor drainage, or areas where drainage systems failed were flooded for days, and in some cases weeks, to come.

The late intensification of Dolly just prior to landfall, combined with a brief northward jog before turning to the west along the Cameron/Willacy County line, limited Gulf storm surge effects across the Town of South Padre Island through mid morning on the 23rd. However, hurricane force west winds whipped an estimated 3 to 4 foot water rise from Laguna Madre across the Town, with water briefly stretching across the Island at the height of the event. The town of Port Mansfield, immediately north of the center, estimated a 4 foot storm surge and 5 foot storm tide.

Interestingly, tides to the north of Dolly's center initially fell to below predicted values on increasing northerly winds, before rising during the late afternoon and evening as the cyclone moved inland, and strong southerly flow piled a storm tide of up to 6 feet above Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW) along the uninhabited Kenedy County shoreline.

There was a single confirmed tornado in Cameron County during the late evening of July 22nd, associated with one of the first outer rain bands. No damage was reported.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 129302. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.