Hurricane (Typhoon) — Galveston, Texas

2007-09-12 to 2007-09-13 · Galveston, Texas

Event narrative

Hurricane Humberto affected 170 homes. Five single family homes were completely destroyed, twenty-two received major damage, and forty-nine only minor damage.

Several High Island homes had roof and shingle damage, a gas station awning collapsed, and a local motel received moderate roof damage. High Island High School received light pole and sign damage. There were widespread uprooted trees and snapped limbs. Within town, larger trees were snapped off at the trunk.

Numerous power poles were either completely blown down, or pushed over, along Highway 87 towards Canal City and Gilchrist.

Wider weather episode

Humberto was a Category 1 hurricane when it made landfall just to the east of High Island early in the morning on September 13th. Wind damage which occurred late on the 12th and early on the 13th was confined to the High Island area of Galveston County and far eastern Chambers County.

Humberto is notable for its exceptional rapid intensification off the Texas coast from a tropical depression into a hurricane within nineteen hours. Maximum rainfall totals from Humberto ranged from around two inches to over fourteen inches mainly along and east of a line from Freeport to the Hitchcock and Texas City area to around Winnie.

The majority of the damage from Humberto was due to high winds and fresh water flooding that caused minor structural damage along with knocking down trees and power lines. There were no injuries or deaths from Humberto in the Houston-Galveston area.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 60861. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.