(Sept. 9, 2011) - On September 11, 1961, Carla slammed into Port Lavaca, Texas as a strong category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 145 mph., gusts up to 175 mph. and a devastating 22 foot storm surge. By the time Carla had spent her fury, 46 lives were lost and the damage totaled $325 million ($2.5 billion in 2011 dollars).

By any measure, hurricane Carla was a monster with hurricane force winds extending out from the center for 150 miles and tropical storm force winds extending out for 250 miles. It was so large, the entire Texas coast was affected and damage was reported as far inland as Dallas. The storm also prompted the largest peace time evacuation in U.S. history with more than half a million people scurrying to leave the vulnerable coastline behind them.

"Our first and primary assignments were to help evacuate all the area residents, quickly and safely, while directing the heavy flow of traffic northward to higher ground," recalls Nolan Maxie, a freelance writer and former highway patrolman. "Gridlock became common along the primary evacuation routes."

When the storm peaked on the 11th, Maxie was on duty in the Brazoria County seat of Angleton. While sitting in his squad car on the lookout for looters, he experienced enormous amounts of wind and rain and felt as if the car was being sand blasted.

In fact, the next day he noticed the highway patrol decal had been completely blown away. After the storm, he also recalled seeing living and dead livestock hanging in treetops; and thousands of rattlesnakes clustered on levees and high ground to escape the floodwaters.

While the early evacuation was credited with saving many lives, hundreds of people had to be rescued in the days following the storm. Former newspaper reporter Murray Montgomery read an Associated Press story about Robert Dunn, a friend of his who lost his family and spent three days floating on the roof of his parents' home in Angleton.

When he caught up with his friend later, Montgomery said he was given a first-hand account. "Robert said that he thought he was miles out in the Gulf of Mexico because he was surrounded by water. He even saw a buoy with a red light on top. What he actually saw was the radio antenna above the Brazoria County Courthouse. The courthouse was five stories tall."

As the eye of the storm pushed ashore at Port Lavaca, a local television reporter was struggling against the wind and rain slashing the Galveston Seawall about 125 miles up the coast. The reporter was doing the first live broadcast of a hurricane; setting a precedent that has been repeated frequently during land falling hurricanes to this day. His innovative coverage of the storm soon led to a job offer as a CBS correspondent and eventually to the anchor position on The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather.

While far from the deadliest, Hurricane Carla was the most intense hurricane to strike Texas in the 20th century. It is also ranked as the ninth most intense hurricane to strike the United States since 1851.

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