My dad filmed and produced this movie. I found it last night and wow did this bring back memories. Our house in Calallen was destroyed. In fact, my mom and I were upstairs when the roof went off. A sharp window cut an artery in the back of my leg. Twelve hours later the national guard took me to Robstown Riverside Hospital. There wasn’t much left of it but they had some tents and auxiliary power and the doctor sewed me up and gave me some crutches. We went in the CP&L helicopter the next morning and Daddy did the filming of the morning after destruction! I can certainly sympathize for all of the people who have been through these hurricanes this year and have lost homes and lost loved ones.
I was in Calallen as well, in 7th grade. I remember it like it was yesterday! We crawled out on our bellies after our house was falling apart. We managed to get inside a car to ride out the storm until the winds let up some. By that time it was dark, as we drove to Robstown where my grandparents home was totally destroyed. So thankful to be alive!
This brings back memories. I was living in Portland. Blew about a third of our roof off. Mom huddled in the bathroom with us kids with a lantern. Was the last time Dad had the bright idea of weathering a hurricane when you live on the coast.
Our family moved to Corpus on August 10th, 1969. This was the first hurricane we ever experienced, it struck one week shy of our first anniversary in town. I will never forget that storm. We lived in the Oso subdivision on Virgil Dr. in the south part of town, about a mile from Corpus Christi Bay. We must have been among the last to have electric service restored, I remember we were without power for a little over two weeks. Our house was severly damaged in the storm, but we were fortunate.
This documentary was made by Joe Kelly our next door neighbor. My brother and I are in the beginning of the film holding our beagle dog Cleo. I was 10 years old then. Many of the shots are from our neighborhood in Calallen. My dad piloted the plane that took some of the shots from the air. I still remember some of it and this film brings much of it back. Like it said in the film none of us who lived through it will never forget it.
Paul, I just discovered this. My dad was Joe Kelley. I am their youngest daughter June. Skip and Cappi were great neighbors and wonderful friends. Where do you live now?
I was an electrical lineman for CPL and we were awaiting the hit at Lon Hill service center in Calallen. We had the trucks fully loaded and ready to go when the eye came over us. As the winds changed direction, the roof of the dock area fell on all of the trucks. It was midnight before we got the first of many dented and damaged trucks on the road. With that began a 40 straight hour workday before we took a 6 hour break. We continued to work 80 hour work days for 3 months there after. I was one tired puppy.
I lived through this hurricane along with my wife and young daughter. At the time I worked at the Woolco Department Store. We almost decided to ride out the storm in that building instead we locked up our duplex on Dabney St. and went to my in-laws house...thank God we did. The main support to the front of the building were the same poles that held the Woolco sign. When the wind finally blew over the sign down came the front 1/3 of the building. The assistant manager was on a ladder looking out the top of the front sheet metal covered windows when the building started coming down. He jumped off the top of the ladder and along with others staying in the building they ran to the back of the building into the stock room. Never forget it scared the assistant manager so bad he had to take a crap in the shoe department stockroom. Next day when us employees came to see what we could do to help we had to hold our noses from the stench of the assistant managers dump. It was an interesting time we worked in the building during its reconstruction. They put up a wall divider and ran business out of the back half of the store. I remember seeing a metal street sign with pole attached several miles from the actual street intersection. We were out of electricity for weeks fortunately we had a police officer friend who would drop by with so badly needed ice. It was an unbelievable force it took myself and my father-in-law to push open a screen door so we could see how much damage it was doing on our street. Kudos to all the CPL team for restoring power.
I went through may11 1970 tornado in Lubbock.we moved to Corpus Christi and then this .I was 7.I still worry when to skies get dark.Two major storms in one year .
I remember Celia vividly. My parents had a house on Ocean Drive, on the bay side, within a few miles of the NAS. I will never forget the bare glistening bay floor as the wind sucked all the water from the bay .... and the growl and crash when it all. came. back.
I was there and one of the best memories I have of this storm is of the wind. It made a sound like a continual shrill whistle and it caused the rain to blow so hard in a horizontal manner that nothing could be seen out of a window (if you were brave enough to look out of a window that wasn't boarded up). Trees were not only uprooted, but they were carried as if they were matchsticks.
And the sheets of water it shot throgh the windows edge when I took away the towels stuffed in around them. But the soul wrenching image was of the rain being shoved across a large area of fallen fences, sheds, etc- it looked llke armies runninng across toward us.
As a young college student at Del Mar , I missed out on some dates, phone calls and the social life because we had no phones, gas was hard to come by so we couldn't cruise the town . The city imposed an early curfew. Life was tough for two weeks but so grateful we had no damage to our home or our car. No one was injured and we had plenty of food which we bar-b-qued on a daily basis.
I went through this while attending college. I have been through several hurricanes but this takes the cake. The news media said we were going to have 90mph winds. If you live in Corpus the wind blows all the time. They let us off work about noon and from that time to 4:00PM all hell broke loose. I heard a report the weather bureau was going to seed this storm in an attempt to kill it. If that is so it backfired. The whole Nueces bay was emptied when the eye came over. It looked like the end!
I was born a couple of week before this storm i was born in Lubbock and because my dad was a contractor he packed us up and we moved here to corpus so he could work and 42yrs later were still here i wonder at times if it werent for celia where would i be and how my life woulda been i dont wanna go through a storm like this one, thnx for the vid.
I was 11 months old when my parents weathered Celia. My mother says its probably the worst day of her life. She didn't think we were going to be alive when it was over.
I was there as Betty Raetzsch at our family home at 913 Dolphin Place in Corpus Christi, Texas. It was very scary. If I remember correctly, we had no electricity for 2 weeks or more. Our neighbor had a gas range so we cooked on that or our pit/grill outside. Stood in line to get ice. Many signs of damage said "Gone With the Wind". My Dad, Carl W Raetzsch was out of town on business and had to drive in to Corpus Christi since the airport was closed. He was worried once he started seeing all the damage.
Wow, in 18:05, it says the storm did a half million dollars in damage. How much would that be today? One-third of Corpus Christi was destroyed and yet it only came to a cost of a couple of family homes today.
I was 7 years old and spent the storm in a 2 story house on Tancahua street on the bluff overlooking the bay. I was too young to appreciate how quickly the storm damage was cleaned up, but I've lived in New Jersey for the past 9 years and experienced Sandy. Seven years after Sandy there are still problems caused by that storm. These people have no idea how to function during or after a proper storm.
On the funny side, my baby sister was still in diapers, and mom washed them every morning and hung them on the deck to dry.One morning she was late, & soon there was a knock at the door--a colonel from the NAS. Turned out that the NAS's beacons had been knocked out by the storm, but they still needed to land planes and choppers--the big Sikorskys right out of Vietnam were a regular feature--and in lieu of those beacons, pilots had been instructed to look for the house with the line of diapers!
I lived in Rockport, lived about 3 blocks from the gulf, we went inland but came back to a waterline in our house that was a foot from the ceiling. We had pier beams in our yard and mud in the house, it was a mess.
I was born about 3 years after Celia. My parents and grandparent were here during it. My grandparents were in their house when the roof came off and landed in a yard nearby. They were ok though. My parents were in their house in another part of town at the time and that house is still standing down to this day.
What they don't mention in here is that Celia came into Corpus, stopped, backed up regaining more strength and slammed the Coastal Bend but good. As well how many tornado's did Celia span? Looking at so many homes destroyed A LOT were spawned. My bedroom on Hugo sank 3" from all the rain and damage was done to the roof. We were lucky but many were not. They also don't mention that the wind gauge at The International Airport broke at 195 MPH winds.
I grew up in the 1960's going to Port Aransas. When I was young Horace Caldwell pier in Port Aransas was the longest pier on the gulf coast. It used to take 15 minutes to walk to the end of that pier..it was amazing. During the summer of 1970 (August 3), hurricane Celia damaged 90% of Port Aransas and in the process washed away 3/4 of Caldwell pier. It was never rebuilt to regain the glory that was pre-1970, but it is still an awesome place.
I was 6 years old and living in the Annaville section of town, just off McKenzie Road. I'm grateful that I don't remember more of the storm, because what I do remember was scary enough. We lost several trees and the screened-porch in our back yard, IIRC.
I was ten and the oldest of six kids. It was scary but thank God our grandparents took us in as they lived next door. Thank you to the hard working Red Cross. Prayer 🙏🏼 today Aug 25 2017.
During the first part of the storm we stayed in our hall way.We could see our front room wall bending inward . The wind under the front door was lifting out carpet. When the garage door went it sucked the kitchen door out into the garage. I remember my Dad looking at me. He told me this is the worst time to realize we should have evacuated.I was 11 years old. But I understood him clearly. When the eye crossed over the silence was so strange except for the occasional loud electrical buzz of power line that had fallen. We went to our back yard and there were no fences. I could see the wall of the storm. When the eye crossed over all hell broke loose.We could hear the boards snapping and all kinds of stuff hitting the house. My sister and me went into the bathtub and had a mattress over us. I could hear her crying over the sound of the wind. The drain in the bath tube sounded like a vacuum cleaner. Our parents were setting on top of the mattress. The bathroom and one bedroom were all that were standing after the storm. Our fridge was in the backyard along with some canned foods. So we could eat but had no water. people actually helped each other. We worked together to get the trees out of the streets. Back then you knew your neighbors . I will never forget that storm and have been thru many since. None of the storms have even come close to Celia.
I remember that so well - I live in San Antonio and was 9 years old when Celia hit. I wasn't sure what to expect - it was the first time I was anywhere near a storm, but I still had Camille in my head, so I was a little scared. We got some really heavy wind and rain and I remember my best friend and me standing in my front yard with our arms spread out leaning way over against the wind. Good times for me, but not Corpus...
I was just 3 days shy of my 4th birthday when CELIA hit on August 3, 1970, 45 years ago. Now only 3 days before my 49th birthday, I can't help but think I've been in the eye of another, more destructive & chaotic storm. Soon it will be time to rebuild..
I have a 16mm reel which is about 45 minutes long of celia footage. It was a news reel I got from the TX A and M library. They just gave it to me in the 90s. I would really like the footage to be used if anyone needs it
I don't need the footage but I'd sure like to see it. I was in junior high school when Celia hit. My mother was in Port Arthur because my grandfather was dying. My dad was home with us 4 girls. We're pretty sure a tornado hit our Lynnwood neighborhood. We lost the majority of our upstairs. The bottom stayed together but the only thing coming out of the recessed light fixtures was water. Before it got so bad, my dad sent my oldest sister and myself to get the suitcase that were packed in case we got word from my mom that we needed to go to Port Arthur. My bedroom was at the back of the house next to my parent's room which faced Surrey Lane. With 4 girls 2 of us always shared a room. I don't remember who I shared a room with but it's not pertinent to the story. My oldest sister faced Surrey Lane. The 4th bedroom was the playroom/guest room. I remember how slushy wet the carpet was. The roof was gone as was my wall. It was weird. My oldest sister's room still had all the walls and roof as did the playroom. My dad had stayed downstairs with my 2 younger sisters. I'm not sure who made it back downstairs first. I'm guessing it was me since my bedroom was the closest to the stairs. Anyway we both made it down safely. Then my dad went up to get stuff from their room. By this time we were hearing things crashing upstairs. I remember standing at the bottom of the stairs with my sisters yelling for our dad. He finally came downstairs and we first tried getting into the attached garbage but there was too much glass from the blown out windows. Next we tried the backdoor but the wind was too strong. We couldn't even get it opened. The last exit available was the front door. So my dad tied us all together with him in the lead. I should also mention that we had 2 Siamese cats that we had since they were old enough to leave their mothers. No way were we leaving them behind. Both of those cats loved getting into suitcases. Why we didn't do that can be chalked up to panic. My dad seriously thought the house was going to cave in on us. The cats were put in their harnesses and leashes which went on two of my sister's arms. Remember we are talking about a full blown hurricane. We lived on the corner so with rain and wind the closest house to go to was a one story house to our right. My dad had already told us where we were going but forgot to tell the cats. Once the rain hit them they dove into the pyracantha bushes in front of our house. And the sisters who they were attached to went with them. I must have been behind my dad because I remember turning my head to see what was happening. A piece of corrugated metal hit me on the right side of my face. Had I not turned my head it would have sliced my head in two. The cats were pulled from the bushes and they were not happy. The sisters who had the cats had as much damage to their arms from the cats as they did from the pyracantha thorns. We finally made it nextdoor and me, who was raised by parents that taught us manners and proper behavior, I rang the doorbell. My dad reached around me and started banging on the door. Thankfully they let us in. There is so much more to our story of surviving hurricane Celia. But if you've read all of this, my guess is you really don't want to read anymore.
In Corpus Christi and the surrounding area. I went up in the CPL helicopter the next morning with my daddy while he was filming. I had been badly injured in Celia the day before. A window blew out upstairs in our house and stabbed me in the back of my right leg. It cut an artery and I lost a lot of blood. Although I was bandaged and on crutches, I still went up and got to see the wide view of the damage. It was so sad. We lost everything....everything....and so did so many others.
I moved To Corpus Christi on June 25th, 2010 (I turned 5 a week later) and still live there today. Also, This Part (8:44) Has To Be In One Of The Canal Subdivisions In Corpus Christi Or Rockport That Were Developed Before 1970. 🍪🍍🐧
15:32 West Texas Utilities-now AEP Texas Louisiana Power & Light-now Entergy Louisiana Oklahoma Gas & Electric (OG&E)-unchanged City Public Service Board-now CPS Energy Community Public Service-now Texas-New Mexico Power Dallas Power & Light, Texas Electric Service, Texas Power & LIght-now Oncor City of Austin Electric Division-now Austin Energy Lower Colorado River Authority-unchanged Central Louisiana Electric Co.-now Cleco Power Houston Lighting & Power-now Center Point Energy
It IS a Second Coming for this slow town. We live on the island and are elated that we will have some revenue coming to this city. Finally, something's actually happening here.
I am writing a book on forgotton Hurricanes of our (not so distant past) I'm a CC resident, attending TAMU-CC so seeing such light coverage infuriates me. I have all data temps, pressures maps, etc's from that day. If you have any info you think I might not know, just pass it along. I also have an answer to your question. I will find it for ya Thanks
He said half a BILLION dollars worth of damage. Close to 5 billion in today's dollars. The Corpus area was not that developed in 1970 like it is now. Lots of rural and empty areas back then.
My dad filmed and produced this movie. I found it last night and wow did this bring back memories. Our house in Calallen was destroyed. In fact, my mom and I were upstairs when the roof went off. A sharp window cut an artery in the back of my leg. Twelve hours later the national guard took me to Robstown Riverside Hospital. There wasn’t much left of it but they had some tents and auxiliary power and the doctor sewed me up and gave me some crutches. We went in the CP&L helicopter the next morning and Daddy did the filming of the morning after destruction! I can certainly sympathize for all of the people who have been through these hurricanes this year and have lost homes and lost loved ones.
I was in Calallen as well, in 7th grade. I remember it like it was yesterday! We crawled out on our bellies after our house was falling apart. We managed to get inside a car to ride out the storm until the winds let up some. By that time it was dark, as we drove to Robstown where my grandparents home was totally destroyed. So thankful to be alive!
W liar
W cap
This brings back memories. I was living in Portland. Blew about a third of our roof off. Mom huddled in the bathroom with us kids with a lantern. Was the last time Dad had the bright idea of weathering a hurricane when you live on the coast.
Our family moved to Corpus on August 10th, 1969. This was the first hurricane we ever experienced, it struck one week shy of our first anniversary in town. I will never forget that storm. We lived in the Oso subdivision on Virgil Dr. in the south part of town, about a mile from Corpus Christi Bay. We must have been among the last to have electric service restored, I remember we were without power for a little over two weeks. Our house was severly damaged in the storm, but we were fortunate.
thank you to AEP Texas you guys are really giving your best at restoring power to the city after Harvey.
This documentary was made by Joe Kelly our next door neighbor. My brother and I are in the beginning of the film holding our beagle dog Cleo. I was 10 years old then. Many of the shots are from our neighborhood in Calallen. My dad piloted the plane that took some of the shots from the air. I still remember some of it and this film brings much of it back. Like it said in the film none of us who lived through it will never forget it.
Paul, I just discovered this. My dad was Joe Kelley. I am their youngest daughter June. Skip and Cappi were great neighbors and wonderful friends. Where do you live now?
I was an electrical lineman for CPL and we were awaiting the hit at Lon Hill service
center in Calallen. We had the trucks fully loaded and ready to go when the eye came over us.
As the winds changed direction, the roof of the dock area fell on all of the trucks. It was midnight before we got the first of many dented and damaged trucks on the road.
With that began a 40 straight hour workday before we took a 6 hour break. We continued to work 80 hour work days for 3 months there after. I was one tired puppy.
I lived through this hurricane along with my wife and young daughter. At the time I worked at the Woolco Department Store. We almost decided to ride out the storm in that building instead we locked up our duplex on Dabney St. and went to my in-laws house...thank God we did. The main support to the front of the building were the same poles that held the Woolco sign. When the wind finally blew over the sign down came the front 1/3 of the building. The assistant manager was on a ladder looking out the top of the front sheet metal covered windows when the building started coming down. He jumped off the top of the ladder and along with others staying in the building they ran to the back of the building into the stock room. Never forget it scared the assistant manager so bad he had to take a crap in the shoe department stockroom. Next day when us employees came to see what we could do to help we had to hold our noses from the stench of the assistant managers dump. It was an interesting time we worked in the building during its reconstruction. They put up a wall divider and ran business out of the back half of the store. I remember seeing a metal street sign with pole attached several miles from the actual street intersection. We were out of electricity for weeks fortunately we had a police officer friend who would drop by with so badly needed ice. It was an unbelievable force it took myself and my father-in-law to push open a screen door so we could see how much damage it was doing on our street. Kudos to all the CPL team for restoring power.
I went through may11 1970 tornado in Lubbock.we moved to Corpus Christi and then this .I was 7.I still worry when to skies get dark.Two major storms in one year .
I remember Celia vividly. My parents had a house on Ocean Drive, on the bay side, within a few miles of the NAS. I will never forget the bare glistening bay floor as the wind sucked all the water from the bay .... and the growl and crash when it all. came. back.
Great video...brought back scary memories but we made it through and our small home had very little damage!
I was there and one of the best memories I have of this storm is of the wind. It made a sound like a continual shrill whistle and it caused the rain to blow so hard in a horizontal manner that nothing could be seen out of a window (if you were brave enough to look out of a window that wasn't boarded up). Trees were not only uprooted, but they were carried as if they were matchsticks.
And the sheets of water it shot throgh the windows edge when I took away the towels stuffed in around them. But the soul wrenching image was of the rain being shoved across a large area of fallen fences, sheds, etc- it looked llke armies runninng across toward us.
i remember celia a school save us a sound so loud when it hit us all I remember people screaming aftermath omg.
As a young college student at Del Mar , I missed out on some dates, phone calls and the social life because we had no phones, gas was hard to come by so we couldn't cruise the town . The city imposed an early curfew. Life was tough for two weeks but so grateful we had no damage to our home or our car. No one was injured and we had plenty of food which we bar-b-qued on a daily basis.
I went through this while attending college. I have been through several hurricanes but this takes the cake. The news media said we were going to have 90mph winds. If you live in Corpus the wind blows all the time. They let us off work about noon and from that time to 4:00PM all hell broke loose. I heard a report the weather bureau was going to seed this storm in an attempt to kill it. If that is so it backfired.
The whole Nueces bay was emptied when the eye came over. It looked like the end!
I was born a couple of week before this storm i was born in Lubbock and because my dad was a contractor he packed us up and we moved here to corpus so he could work and 42yrs later were still here i wonder at times if it werent for celia where would i be and how my life woulda been i dont wanna go through a storm like this one, thnx for the vid.
I was 7 at that time & I still remember it!
I was 11 months old when my parents weathered Celia. My mother says its probably the worst day of her life. She didn't think we were going to be alive when it was over.
I was there as Betty Raetzsch at our family home at 913 Dolphin Place in Corpus Christi, Texas. It was very scary. If I remember correctly, we had no electricity for 2 weeks or more. Our neighbor had a gas range so we cooked on that or our pit/grill outside. Stood in line to get ice. Many signs of damage said "Gone With the Wind". My Dad, Carl W Raetzsch was out of town on business and had to drive in to Corpus Christi since the airport was closed. He was worried once he started seeing all the damage.
Betty Saenz My Grandmother, Helen Hanscheck lived right next door. It's a small world.
Wow, in 18:05, it says the storm did a half million dollars in damage. How much would that be today? One-third of Corpus Christi was destroyed and yet it only came to a cost of a couple of family homes today.
I was 7 years old and spent the storm in a 2 story house on Tancahua street on the bluff overlooking the bay. I was too young to appreciate how quickly the storm damage was cleaned up, but I've lived in New Jersey for the past 9 years and experienced Sandy. Seven years after Sandy there are still problems caused by that storm. These people have no idea how to function during or after a proper storm.
On the funny side, my baby sister was still in diapers, and mom washed them every morning and hung them on the deck to dry.One morning she was late, & soon there was a knock at the door--a colonel from the NAS. Turned out that the NAS's beacons had been knocked out by the storm, but they still needed to land planes and choppers--the big Sikorskys right out of Vietnam were a regular feature--and in lieu of those beacons, pilots had been instructed to look for the house with the line of diapers!
I lived in Rockport, lived about 3 blocks from the gulf, we went inland but came back to a waterline in our house that was a foot from the ceiling. We had pier beams in our yard and mud in the house, it was a mess.
I was born about 3 years after Celia. My parents and grandparent were here during it. My grandparents were in their house when the roof came off and landed in a yard nearby. They were ok though. My parents were in their house in another part of town at the time and that house is still standing down to this day.
I was 5 years old and lived through this, on the coast in a motel.
What they don't mention in here is that Celia came into Corpus, stopped, backed up regaining more strength and slammed the Coastal Bend but good. As well how many tornado's did Celia span? Looking at so many homes destroyed A LOT were spawned. My bedroom on Hugo sank 3" from all the rain and damage was done to the roof. We were lucky but many were not. They also don't mention that the wind gauge at The International Airport broke at 195 MPH winds.
I grew up in the 1960's going to Port Aransas. When I was young Horace Caldwell pier in Port Aransas was the longest pier on the gulf coast. It used to take 15 minutes to walk to the end of that pier..it was amazing. During the summer of 1970 (August 3), hurricane Celia damaged 90% of Port Aransas and in the process washed away 3/4 of Caldwell pier. It was never rebuilt to regain the glory that was pre-1970, but it is still an awesome place.
I was 6 years old and living in the Annaville section of town, just off McKenzie Road. I'm grateful that I don't remember more of the storm, because what I do remember was scary enough. We lost several trees and the screened-porch in our back yard, IIRC.
Wow! Cool. Thanks.
I was ten and the oldest of six kids. It was scary but thank God our grandparents took us in as they lived next door. Thank you to the hard working Red Cross. Prayer 🙏🏼 today Aug 25 2017.
Patricia Lopez welp we dodged a bullet in Corpus with Harvey but the damage in Rockport looked worse than the damage in the video
During the first part of the storm we stayed in our hall way.We could see our front room wall bending inward . The wind under the front door was lifting out carpet. When the garage door went it sucked the kitchen door out into the garage. I remember my Dad looking at me. He told me this is the worst time to realize we should have evacuated.I was 11 years old. But I understood him clearly. When the eye crossed over the silence was so strange except for the occasional loud electrical buzz of power line that had fallen. We went to our back yard and there were no fences. I could see the wall of the storm. When the eye crossed over all hell broke loose.We could hear the boards snapping and all kinds of stuff hitting the house. My sister and me went into the bathtub and had a mattress over us. I could hear her crying over the sound of the wind. The drain in the bath tube sounded like a vacuum cleaner. Our parents were setting on top of the mattress. The bathroom and one bedroom were all that were standing after the storm. Our fridge was in the backyard along with some canned foods. So we could eat but had no water. people actually helped each other. We worked together to get the trees out of the streets. Back then you knew your neighbors . I will never forget that storm and have been thru many since. None of the storms have even come close to Celia.
I remember that so well - I live in San Antonio and was 9 years old when Celia hit. I wasn't sure what to expect - it was the first time I was anywhere near a storm, but I still had Camille in my head, so I was a little scared. We got some really heavy wind and rain and I remember my best friend and me standing in my front yard with our arms spread out leaning way over against the wind. Good times for me, but not Corpus...
This will be fifty years on the actual day Monday August the 3rd
I was born when this hurricane occurred & my name is Celia! Lol My parents swore I wasn’t named after it.
My name is Celia too.
Wowww, is hard to read scenes like these I'm reading now.
I myself remember that , it was in August of 1970 😢
I was not alive but my grandma was and she said it was horrible and devastating
I was just 3 days shy of my 4th birthday when CELIA hit on August 3, 1970, 45 years ago. Now only 3 days before my 49th birthday, I can't help but think I've been in the eye of another, more destructive & chaotic storm. Soon it will be time to rebuild..
Jacob Wilson i
a school save us in corpus Christi a sound so loud I was 5 years old the aftermath glass omg.
I have a 16mm reel which is about 45 minutes long of celia footage. It was a news reel I got from the TX A and M library. They just gave it to me in the 90s. I would really like the footage to be used if anyone needs it
I don't need the footage but I'd sure like to see it. I was in junior high school when Celia hit. My mother was in Port Arthur because my grandfather was dying. My dad was home with us 4 girls. We're pretty sure a tornado hit our Lynnwood neighborhood. We lost the majority of our upstairs. The bottom stayed together but the only thing coming out of the recessed light fixtures was water. Before it got so bad, my dad sent my oldest sister and myself to get the suitcase that were packed in case we got word from my mom that we needed to go to Port Arthur. My bedroom was at the back of the house next to my parent's room which faced Surrey Lane. With 4 girls 2 of us always shared a room. I don't remember who I shared a room with but it's not pertinent to the story. My oldest sister faced Surrey Lane. The 4th bedroom was the playroom/guest room. I remember how slushy wet the carpet was. The roof was gone as was my wall. It was weird. My oldest sister's room still had all the walls and roof as did the playroom. My dad had stayed downstairs with my 2 younger sisters. I'm not sure who made it back downstairs first. I'm guessing it was me since my bedroom was the closest to the stairs. Anyway we both made it down safely. Then my dad went up to get stuff from their room. By this time we were hearing things crashing upstairs. I remember standing at the bottom of the stairs with my sisters yelling for our dad. He finally came downstairs and we first tried getting into the attached garbage but there was too much glass from the blown out windows. Next we tried the backdoor but the wind was too strong. We couldn't even get it opened. The last exit available was the front door. So my dad tied us all together with him in the lead. I should also mention that we had 2 Siamese cats that we had since they were old enough to leave their mothers. No way were we leaving them behind. Both of those cats loved getting into suitcases. Why we didn't do that can be chalked up to panic. My dad seriously thought the house was going to cave in on us. The cats were put in their harnesses and leashes which went on two of my sister's arms. Remember we are talking about a full blown hurricane. We lived on the corner so with rain and wind the closest house to go to was a one story house to our right. My dad had already told us where we were going but forgot to tell the cats. Once the rain hit them they dove into the pyracantha bushes in front of our house. And the sisters who they were attached to went with them. I must have been behind my dad because I remember turning my head to see what was happening. A piece of corrugated metal hit me on the right side of my face. Had I not turned my head it would have sliced my head in two. The cats were pulled from the bushes and they were not happy. The sisters who had the cats had as much damage to their arms from the cats as they did from the pyracantha thorns. We finally made it nextdoor and me, who was raised by parents that taught us manners and proper behavior, I rang the doorbell. My dad reached around me and started banging on the door. Thankfully they let us in. There is so much more to our story of surviving hurricane Celia. But if you've read all of this, my guess is you really don't want to read anymore.
Only Half a million in damage? Nowadays it’s more like billions
8:44 Where was this filmed?
In Corpus Christi and the surrounding area. I went up in the CPL helicopter the next morning with my daddy while he was filming. I had been badly injured in Celia the day before. A window blew out upstairs in our house and stabbed me in the back of my right leg. It cut an artery and I lost a lot of blood. Although I was bandaged and on crutches, I still went up and got to see the wide view of the damage. It was so sad. We lost everything....everything....and so did so many others.
I moved To Corpus Christi on June 25th, 2010 (I turned 5 a week later) and still live there today. Also, This Part (8:44) Has To Be In One Of The Canal Subdivisions In Corpus Christi Or Rockport That Were Developed Before 1970. 🍪🍍🐧
I lived in Portland at the time. Was 8 years old. When the eye past over us people came out what the hell is this
15:32 West Texas Utilities-now AEP Texas
Louisiana Power & Light-now Entergy Louisiana
Oklahoma Gas & Electric (OG&E)-unchanged
City Public Service Board-now CPS Energy
Community Public Service-now Texas-New Mexico Power
Dallas Power & Light, Texas Electric Service, Texas Power & LIght-now Oncor
City of Austin Electric Division-now Austin Energy
Lower Colorado River Authority-unchanged
Central Louisiana Electric Co.-now Cleco Power
Houston Lighting & Power-now Center Point Energy
lived through this hurricane this is why I won't live there again corpus christi that's my home town old song
It IS a Second Coming for this slow town. We live on the island and are elated that we will have some revenue coming to this city. Finally, something's actually happening here.
Celia had gusts of 161 mph .
I was not born yet. Where did the eye hit?
The day i was born in Baytown Texas.
When was this documentary filmed in what year 1970 or 1971
70
Great music! I kept waiting for John Wayne to come in and save the day!
I am writing a book on forgotton Hurricanes of our (not so distant past) I'm a CC resident, attending TAMU-CC so seeing such light coverage infuriates me. I have all data temps, pressures maps, etc's from that day. If you have any info you think I might not know, just pass it along. I also have an answer to your question. I will find it for ya Thanks
I was 5 yrs old,,
A half million dollars worth of damage? Say, what?!!
Downhill Racer you do realize this was back in the 70s right?
He said half a BILLION dollars worth of damage. Close to 5 billion in today's dollars. The Corpus area was not that developed in 1970 like it is now. Lots of rural and empty areas back then.
You ain't missing much in Corpus Christi, Trena. They just broke ground on a water park over there, and folks are praising it like the Second Coming.
I didnt do it i repeat I DIDNT DO IT
Btw celia is my real name sooooo
I was born yet so I didn't GAF
You said-I was born yet so I didn't GAF
Are you trying to say,"I was
born, yet so. I didn't Go After First? Did you mean FIRST GRADE?
You said--I was born yet so I didn't GAF
Did you mean to say, "I WAS BORN, YET SO, I DIDN'T Go After First." Did you mean after FIRST GRADE?
I repeated it so that you would understand