The mystery storm of 1943
The worst hurricane since 1915 caught Galveston County unaware and details about the destruction it caused were sealed for reasons of national security.

Readers Tell Their Stories

‘The main attraction …was the Coca-Cola sign’
By Mary Elizabeth Felscher Fleming
After awhile the winds calmed, the rain stopped and the sun came out. The eye was over Galveston.

‘The wind picked up two garages’
By Jane Keller Hime
My mother sent my sister and myself up to the attic to hold cardboard tables against the louvers that were covered with screening only.

‘We lost everything we owned that year’
By Lillie Balli Rios
When the wind began to howl and our high raised home began to shake, we all sought shelter across the alley in a two story brick apartment house.

‘During his patrol duties … he took pictures’
By John Dupla
It was interesting that all my life my family and I knew of the hurricane of 1943 but never knew it was a secret.

‘We suspected a hurricane’
By Bob Browning
The weather grew progressively worse during the day, and when the roof blew off the brick garage next door we suspected a hurricane.

‘Our African-American family felt unusual’
By Annie Brown Chapman
Our African-American family felt quite unusual spending the night in the Buccaneer Hotel, a totally atypical occurrence at that time.

‘They jumped into our porch’
By Frances Homrighaus
We had to finally abandon our house as the attic window had been left open and everything in the house was waterlogged.

‘Men were being washed up’
By Andrew Johnson Jr.
My father who was born and raised here on Bolivar had survived the 1900 Storm in a house nearby and was familiar with signs of approaching storms.

‘We just had to hold on to each other’
By Barbara Brister
The following buildings are gone: The Methodist church completely gone, the Baptist church off the blocks, Catholic churches gone.

‘The doctors stood in ankle deep water’
By Carol Hasserd
I was born on July 27, 1943. The storm was raging and the lights went out so they moved my mother to John Sealy.

‘The church was flattened’
By Flora Mae Comeaux Cox
We were all kneeling and praying when someone noticed the roof was literally lifting up off the church.

‘The harbor was one huge mess’
By Fred E. Hempel
Galveston suffered heavy damage. During the storm, the water pressure had dropped to zero for a time and was possibly contaminated.

‘I have to go … to identify the dead’
By Iris Goings Snipes
My father, Clyde A. Goings was chief inspector on the Corps of Engineers dredge boat Galveston. We were not aware the Galveston had sunk.

‘I can never forget my grandfather’s … faith’
By Izola E.F. Collins
I cannot forget the Storm of 1943, because I was 13 years old and played my first mature role in the home.

‘I promise not to stay next time’
By Martin Albrecht
I was working for Pan American Refinery (Now BP) in 1943. I decided to stay in the plant to see what a hurricane was like.

‘A woman being carried to her death’
By Davene Schuler
On July 27, 1943, my Dad and I said goodbye to my mom on a sunny, hazy, cloudy day with no warning of what was to come.

'Buildings were collapsing’
By Douglas R. Caldwell Sr.
I had yet to experience the power of a hurricane. On July 27, with very little warning, the effects of the storm caught everyone by surprise.

‘Waded across a bridge, water was knee deep’
By W. Crutchfield Williams II
I thought there might be an entry in my grandmother’s diary she kept at her Camp Scrap Inn in Clear Lake Shores.

‘We saw our small barn blow down’
By Dorothy Evans Fuller
In July 1943, I was 6 years old, and what I can remember about the hurricane, known as the ’43 storm, is very vivid.

‘My husband … had to swim across the street’
By Emmy Lou Harris
My memory of the storm is the electricity went out and the house did a little shaking, but the only thing that was destroyed was our backyard fence.

‘My grandma wouldn’t let her out of bed’
By Dolores S. Moor
My mother came home from the hospital the day before the hurricane arrived. We had to keep moving her bed to keep her and the baby dry.

‘I had just given birth to twin boys’
By Nevil Goodgame
The house my daddy built rocked and rolled, and the bed I was in with my two sons creaked and shook. The electricity was out for two weeks.

‘As we were sitting and praying at my aunt’s’
By Blanca Chapa Bell
The water was beginning to rise since the seawall ended at 61st. We were all frightened and decided to drive to our aunt’s house on Victory Street.

‘The doctor ... did not expect him to live’
By Velma Bradshow Leavell
Eddie Bradshaw was rushed to the hospital with internal hemorrhaging from bleeding ulcers. This was during the 1943 storm and blackouts were ordered.

'We didn’t have much warning'
By John O. Anderson Jr.
My mother had a dickens of a time keeping the car on the road. As I recall there was not a lot of rain at the time.

‘We were going to crawl out’
By Lavelle Bedow Skufca
My mother and I walked to the beach and angry waves were splashing up over the embankment and onto the street. We had never seen it like this.

‘I was literally picked up and carried’
By Ethel A. Nevius
It seems as though the storm was passing us by and I was sent out with a fistful of telegrams for businesses in the downtown area.

‘The road ... was underwater’
By Dee Salyer
The 1943 hurricane was something I’ll never forget. Our electricity was off so my dad took us out in the car so that we could get a weather report.

“We saw this soldier … battling the wind’
By Dorothy Snow Lucas
We saw this soldier from Fort Crockett heading north on 49th Street. We asked him to come in, but he had to get to his wife because she was alone.

‘Men were hanging on to … the wings’
By Inez R. Lasell
A number of the larger planes were parked on the runway. To keep them from being wrecked, scores of men were hanging on to the leading edges of the wings.

July 28, 1943 Front Page
Headline: Severe Storm Hits City! Download a PDF of our front page from July 28, 1943, featuring the initial reports of the storm's damage.

July 29, 1943 Front Page
Headline: Ten Are Drowned As Dredge Sinks! Download a PDF of our front page from July 29, 1943, featuring the reports on storm damage and casualties.