Hurricane (Typhoon) — Sabine, Texas

2020-08-27 · Sabine, Texas

Event narrative

Observed scattered tree damage across the parish with more widespread damage across the southeastern corner of the parish and exposed areas to the open waters of Toledo Bend Reservoir in the far southwestern portion of the parish. Damage included snapped trees, roof damage to an apartment complex, and clusters of uprooted trees. Tree fall in the parish ranged from south to south-southeast. The damage survey estimated sustained winds were 50 to 60 mph with peak wind gusts in the 70 to 80 mph range in the southern portion of the county. Sustained winds were estimated to be 40 to 50 with gusts to the 60 to 70 mph range in the northern portion of the county.

Wider weather episode

Major Hurricane Laura tracked north northwest across the Central and Northern Gulf of Mexico from the Central Carribean Sea near Cuba, making landfall in Southwest Louisiana near Cameron around 1 am on August 27th as a strong Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 150 mph, and a minimum central pressure of 938 mb. Laura remained a hurricane as it tracked north across Southwest and Central Louisiana and into Natchitoches Parish, before weakening to a tropical storm as it moved northeast across Northcentral Louisiana and Southcentral Arkansas. Despite being on the west side of Laura's center, portions of extreme Eastern Texas observed wind gusts between 45-60+ mph, mainly across Sabine, San Augustine, Angelina, Shelby, Rusk, Panola, and Harrison Counties. These winds downed trees and power lines over these areas during the morning, before winds weakened in the afternoon with the departure of Laura into Southern Arkansas. Rainfall amounts ranged from 1.50-3.00 inches across the eastern border counties with Louisiana. Higher amounts of 3-6+ inches were observed across Southern Panola, Shelby, San Augustine, and Sabine Counties. However, no flooding was reported across East Texas from Hurricane Laura.

Here are the peak wind gusts at various automated stations across the affected areas of East Texas:

Marshall (Harrison County), 48 mph

Carthage (Panola County), 47 mph

Sabine South RAWS (Sabine County), 44 mph

San Augustine (San Augustine County), 36 mph.

Here are the known damage across various counties affected in East Texas:

Angelina County: Scattered trees and power lines down countywide.

San Augustine County: Scattered trees and power lines down countywide.

Sabine County: Numerous trees down across the eastern half of the county with more sporadic damage across the western half of the county. The roof of a Ashley Furniture store collapsed in Hemphill. The damage otherwise was mostly uprooted trees and large broken branches, with trees falling through homes in the McGee's Landing area. A pine tree fell into a single wide mobile home and killed a 54 year old man in the Pendleton Harbor subdivision near Toledo Bend Reservoir. The tree fall was generally to the south-southwest to south-southeast.

Shelby County: Scattered trees and power lines down countywide.

Panola County: Sporadic trees down in Carthage and southwest of De Berry.

Rusk County: Numerous trees and power lines down countywide.

Harrison County: A tree was blown down onto a house in Waskom. Sporadic trees were also downed across various locations in the county.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 908796. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.