The town of Indianola, rebuilt from the terrible hurricane of 1875, once again prospered as the major seaport of Texas. No person thought the destruction of 1875 could be repeated when 75% of the town was lost. Instead, the entire town was lost.
A devastating hurricane approached the area during the night of August 19th, 1886. By morning, winds were 72 mph and increasing. People began to gather in the Signal Station for protection from the increasing storm. The storm surge began to make the building unstable and people began to flee into the streets, fearing they would die in the crumbling building. The weather observer, I.A. Reed, decided to secure the records and reset the instruments in the case that he or the building did not survive the hurricane. While resetting the instrumentation, the building failed and trapped Reed and a doctor inside.
Fuel lamps in the building soon ignited the building despite the rain of the storm. The fire quickly spread, forcing people out of the buildings in town and into the storm. Many were swept away in the water of the storm as the city was burned and battered by the hurricane. Historical texts report at least 46 people died in the hurricane.
Little is known about this storm because so little survived the devastation. Every building was a loss in the city. County seat responsibilities were transfered to Port Lavaca, where they remain today. County records were lost. The town was never rebuilt as trade found other routes such as Galveston.
San Antonio reported a pressure of 29.03 inches and winds of 80 mph as the decaying stormed passed. Not all weather caused by the hurricane was bad. Corpus Christi reported a drought breaking rain of 6" and the strong NW wind caused the bays to receed for two hours.