Hurricane (Typhoon) — Tyler, Texas

2005-09-23 to 2005-09-24 · Tyler, Texas

Wider weather episode

Although Hurricane Rita made landfall just east of the Texas - Louisiana border, she moved northwest and moved across southeast Texas in the morning hours of September 24th as a dangerous category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 120 mph. Along the coast of Jefferson County, storm surges near 10 feet occurred near Sabine Pass, where over 90 percent of the homes were severely damaged or destroyed. The storm surge backed up the Sabine River, and flooded a small section of downtown Orange with around 4 to 5 feet of storm surge. Winds blew over 100 mph across the entire region, snapping and uprooting trees, and damaged over 125,000 homes and businesses. Some homes in rural Jasper and Newton counties did not have electricity restored for over six weeks. One direct fatality occurred in Jasper County when a tree fell on a mobile home. Six other indirect fatalities occurred in Jefferson County in Beaumont, where a family died of carbon monoxide poisoning after running a generator inside their apartment.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5475149. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.