Louisiana Hurricane History:
16th Century

David Roth*
National Weather Service
Lake Charles, LA

Beginning in 1519, Spanish conquistadors began plundering the New World for their motherland.. Names such as Ponce de Leon, Fernando Cortes, and Coronado began exploring regions surrounding the Gulf of Mexico. As they found treasure, a "quinto" (Spanish for one-fifth) of their earnings were sent to the king.

October 23rd, 1527: A nemesis of Cortes was a man by the name of Panifo de Narvaez. His luck was always bad...this mission to Florida was no exception. When forced to leave due to hunger and hostile natives, his five boats of less than 250 men sailed westward, hugging the northern Gulf coast. As they were passing the Mouth of the Mississippi, a storm caught the barges and "tossed them like driftwood" (Chipman). This occurred near 155 years before La Salle made his historic trip down the Mississippi, its mouth doomed not to be rediscovered for decades.

18th Century

September 22-24th, 1722: This is the first well documented hurricane to have hit Louisiana. It initially moved through the Lesser Antilles on September 11th, later making landfall west of the Mouth of the Mississippi on the 23rd, then passing through Central Louisiana. This same storm most likely re-curved northeast into South Carolina, as they reported 3 days of flooding rains around the 27th. Hurricane force winds lasted 15 hours beginning on the night of the 22nd. Storm surges were reported to be 3 ft. at Bayou St. John and 8 ft. in the Mississippi River.

Thirty six huts were destroyed during the storm, which included the area hospital. These buildings were hastily constructed in 1717-18 when New Orleans was initially selected to be the capital of the Louisiana Company. The St. Louis church was destroyed. This storm was responsible for moving the old site of Mobile from 27 miles north of the mouth of the Mobile River to its present day site. Ships were reported to have been sunk in the harbor of New Orleans and areas lakes as well. Three pirogues loaded with fowl, corn, and other goods were lost up towards the Tensas.

In 1718, a 3 foot high levee protected New Orleans from both river and tidal overflow. This proved inadequate, as older area settlements used the devastation of New Orleans in the "Great Hurricane of 1722" as final proof of that city's unsuitability as the capital of Louisiana, as it followed a great flood by only 3 years. 

A "rude little fort" was built in the marshes near the Mouth of the Mississippi, a location discovered by Sieur de la Salle in 1682 and inhabited by 1699. It was named La Balize, French for "The Seamark". In 1721, the first lighthouse-type structure, a wooden pyramid rising 62 feet out of the muck, was constructed. It is considered one of the oldest settlements within the current boundaries of Louisiana (Cipra 132-133). 

September 23, 1740: Hurricane struck Mouth of the Mississippi River. It destroyed a large portion of the crops and left many colonists without shelter. The storm, along with others during the 1740's, removed all traces of the original habitation of La Balize. An island named San Carlos surfaced, and became the new site of the Balize.    

September 4th, 1766: Hurricane strikes Texas coast near Galveston, yet also plays a role in Early Louisiana History. The ship Constante was lost in the storm about 45 miles east of Calcasieu Pass. The nearby bayou was named "Bayu del Constante", or Constance Bayou (Morgan). See Texas Hurricane History for more on this storm.    

August 31st-September 4th, 1772: Hurricane originating near Jamaica on the 28th of August moved north and northwest into the Central Gulf Coast just west of Mobile. Its effects were far reaching. In Pensacola, it destroyed most of the wharves. The most devastation occurred in the vicinity of Mobile and the Pasca Oocola River. All shipping at the Mouth of the Mississippi was driven into the marshes. this included the ship El Principe de Orange from which only 6 survived.

Being on the west side of this storm, the worst inundation occurred at the back of the Chandeleurs, Grand Gozier, and Breton Isles and cut new channels within the islands. New Orleans itself enjoyed a sunny day with light winds. 

1776: Hurricane struck New Orleans. Produced some damage. 

October 7-10th, 1778: There was a great storm surge that destroyed the establishments of the Balize, Bayou St. John, and Tigouyou in the Louisiana with this late season hurricane. All structures were wiped out of existence. 

August 18th, 1779: A hurricane made landfall at New Orleans. At that time, Spain had declared war on Great Britain. Almost all of Bernardo de Galvez' ships (Governor of New Orleans) that were to be used to secretly seize the British post at Baton Rouge were grounded or destroyed, thus ruining his plans for invasion until the 27th. The only ship that escaped disaster was El Volante. Some of the ships were found in the middle of woods after the storm!

Wind and rain began on the night of the 17th. Full violence of the storm was attained by 3 am. All houses, piroughs, barges, and boats were decimated; fields were leveled and all crops, stock, and provisions were lost. These included an American Frigate, the Morris.

During this storm, William Dunbar made observations that uncovered the true nature of tropical storms and hurricanes; that they had a progressive forward movement and that the winds revolved around a vortex at the center. His findings were presented to the American Philosophical Society in 1801. 

October 7-10th, 1779: Hurricane affected New Orleans.    

August 24th, 1780: A hurricane worse that the August 1779 storm swept over the province of Louisiana striking New Orleans; destroying crops, tearing down buildings and sinking every vessel and boat afloat on the Mississippi River and on area lakes.

It was during this storm that Dunbar noted that tornadoes form around tropical storms and seldom lasted more than 5 to 10 minutes. This was of no comfort to the inhabitants of the area, who were distraught after these two storms and an excessively cold winter followed by a very rainy summer. These residents wrote the Spanish sovereign not to abandon the country regardless of the adverse blows of nature.    

August 23rd, 1781: Hurricane struck New Orleans.    

August 1793: A strong tropical storm hit New Orleans and destroyed unharvested crops and devastated rural sections of the province.    

August 31-September 1, 1794: A hurricane that moved through Cuba on the 27th and 28th of August struck New Orleans on the 31st and produced crop damage. The storm surge moved inland from Balize (Pilottown) westward to the Plaquemines as deep as 10 feet in places, totally engulfing Fort St. Phillip and drowning their chief engineer. Large hail was also noted in the storm; a very unusual event in a hurricane. Nine hours of high winds tormented what is now Avoyelles Parish on September 1st as the storm continued marching northward. Many lives, cattle, and horses perished in the storm.

August 1800: Hurricane struck New Orleans.

* Author's current affiliation: NWS National Centers for Environmental Prediction - Hydrometeorological Prediction Center, Camp Springs, Maryland