Hurricane Central

Texas Hurricanes

Ever since the National Weather Service began giving hurricanes names in 1954, Texas has been hit by 18 hurricanes. The 1900 hurricane in Galveston remains the deadliest storm in U.S. history with the loss of 6,000 lives.

Click the thumbnails above to see Texas hurricane losses and windspeeds. See more here.

Costliest Texas Storms shows the insured losses in actual dollars.

Paths of Texas Hurricanes

Every hurricane that approaches Texas takes its own unique path once making landfall. Most hurricanes veer north and eastward upon landfall, while others have continued westward paths. Hurricane Paths show the direction of every named hurricane that has hit Texas.

Hurricane Harvey made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on the Texas coast on Friday, August 25, 2017. Harvey battered and drenched Texas for days before finally moving out of the state. The heavy rains from Harvey caused catastrophic flooding throughout the Coastal Bend Region, the Houston area and Southeast Texas.

Hurricane Harvey, 08.25.17

Within 48 hours, Harvey grew from a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico to a Category 4 hurricane with wind gusts exceeding 150 mph. Harvey made landfall on the evening of Friday, Aug. 25, 2017, just east of Corpus Christi, striking the communities of Port Aransas and Rockport. Hurricane Harvey moved slowly forcing coastal residents to withstand hurricane force winds for several hours. Its storm surge reached 12 feet.

As Hurricane Harvey finally moved inland, it became a tremendous rain-making event that flooded a huge portion of southeast Texas including Houston, Beaumont and Port Arthur. A record 60 inches of rain fell in Jefferson County. Tens of thousands of homes were flooded, most of them without flood insurance. A quarter of a million cars and trucks were flooded.

The Insurance Council of Texas placed insured losses on Hurricane Harvey at $19 billion, making it the costliest storm to ever hit Texas. The last hurricane to strike Texas was Hurricane Ike back on Sept. 13, 2008. Ike had been the costliest storm in the state with $12 billion in insured losses.

The Insurance Council of Texas (ICT) premiered its new documentary on Hurricane Harvey (watch it above) before 1,000 first responders at this year’s Coastal Bend Hurricane Conference in Robstown. The video describes the catastrophic damage and the people who lived through the costliest storm in Texas history.

Hurricane Harvey Fact Sheet

TDI Hurricane Harvey Data Call Report, January 23, 2018

TWIA says Harvey Losses will total $1.13 Billion

TWIA explains Claims Dispute Process for victims of Hurricane Harvey

Watch a condensed version of our Hurricane Harvey video below.

Hurricane Harvey Survivor has Harrowing Ride of his Life, watch 7 minute interview with Robert Mitchell of Port Aransas.

Hurricane Ike, 09.13.08

Immediately after Hurricane Ike made landfall causing devastation in the Galveston area, the Insurance Council of Texas (ICT began working on the production of a video documentary that would focus on the storm’s impact. ICT’s Mark Hanna got approval from ICT’s Board of Directors to reach out to KLRU-TV and utilize their cameramen and editors to document what happened from the 2008 storm. The hour-long documentary, Hurricane Ike, 09.13.08, was aired on 10 PBS television stations in Texas. The documentary was one of the reasons why ICT was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award for Public Awareness from the National Hurricane Conference in 2010. Below are the 60-minute and reduced 30-minute versions of the documentary.

Lessons Learned

Texans living along the Texas coast have learned valuable lessons from every hurricane that has hit the state. ICT has gathered much of what we have learned and placed in the brochure:

Lessons Learned Texas Hurricanes

Before the Hurricane: Advice For Homeowners

Additional Resources

Insuring the Texas Coast

Comparison of Policy Types: Home, Auto, Flood, Windstorm

Information from the Texas Department of Insurance: