I went down to Denton Texas for college to become a professional trumpet player. During my first orientation trip down there, a hurricane was approaching the coast. I heard on the weather forecast that it was heading for the most populated area on that part of the coast. The friends I had just made had to return to help their families prepare for the hurricane. That night without thinking I closed my eyes and prayed, "Lord, I pray you turn that hurricane so that it hits the least most populated area on the coast." The next morning I walked down to the lobby of the dorm I was staying in and saw a program on the TV discussing the storm. There were five weathermen lined up discussing the hurricane and what had happened last night. I remember one of them saying and I quote, "Hurricanes just don't do this. It turn 90 degrees last night and hit the least most populated area on the coast."

Years later when the internet became a resource for the history of these events, I decided to look up what was written about that storm. Shown below are a few excerpts that talk about the events.

Source: Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory

Hurricane Allen. August 9-10. 1980: When it was over the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Allen was one of the most intense hurricanes ever. Allen reached Category 5 status three times. It obtained a 911 mb (26.89 inches) central pressure in the eastern Caribbean on August 5 while south of Puerto Rico. After weakening near Haiti and Jamaica,Allen again strengthened and a minimum pressure of 899 mb (26.55 inches) was recorded by a NOAA aircraft on the 7th when it was off the Yucatan Peninsula. Only Hurricane Gilbert with the all time low pressure reading of 888 mb in 1988, and the infamous Labor Day hurricane of 1935 with a central pressure of 892 mb were lower than Allen's 899 mb central pressure. Allen lost strength again near the Yucatan Peninsula but regained it over the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico with a central pressure of 909 mb (26.84 inches) on 9th.

The center of Allen did not cross any land until it moved inland north of Brownsville, TX on the 9th. Just off the Texas coast, Allen hesitated long enough to weaken to 945 mb (27.91 inches), and then moved inland north of Brownsville bringing highest tides and winds over the least populated section of the Texas coast.

Only two deaths were directly attributed to Allen. The strongest measured winds were gusts to 129 mph at Port Mansfield, TX. A storm surge up to 12 feet along Padre Island caused numerous barrier island cuts and washouts.

Source: Time Magazine

A Monster from the Caribbean

One of the century's wildest hurricanes turns tame over Texas

Its itinerary sounded like something drawn up by a Caribbean cruise director: Barbados and St. Lucia, Haiti and Jamaica, Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and the U.S. Gulf Coast. But the voyage left shattering death and destruction in its wake. Hurricane Allen brought savage 185 m.p.h. winds and 20-ft. waves. It wiped out most of the Caribbean banana crop, demolished thousands of homes and killed more than 100 people before its final landfall in Texas. Said Noel Risnychok, a meteorologist at Miami's National Hurricane Center, as the winds scythed through the normally placid Caribbean: "Allen has the potential to be the most devastating storm of the century."

That record was set by a hurricane that smashed through the Caribbean to the Florida Keys on Labor Day 1935 and claimed 408 lives. Late last week, a weather reconnaissance plane flew into Allen's eye and discovered a stunningly low barometric reading of 899 millibars—perilously close to the 892 level of 1935. Allen's monstrous wall clouds, the most powerful part of a hurricane, reached out 70 miles from the eye. Whether the worst storm of the past 80 years or merely the second worst, Allen was one for the record books. A long Caribbean heat wave gave the hurricane particular ferocity, and forecasters fear that similar storms may follow until season's end in November.

Allen ran past Barbados, but the island of St. Lucia caught its full force. In Haiti Allen destroyed virtually the entire coffee crop, a major source of income for the impoverished island, and killed at least 50. Before the hurricane cut across Jamaica, Prime Minister Michael Manley pleaded on national radio: "I ask for God's blessing for this night." Though western Cuba was barely scratched, the storm battered nearby Isla Juventud, where 25,000 teen-agers from Third World countries are studying on Cuban scholarships, then swiped at the Yucatán.

Warned that Allen was nearing, Texans from Brownsville to Galveston frantically boarded up their homes and shops and 200,000 people fled coastal areas. Hardware stores sold out of batteries, candles, masking tape and flashlights. Canned goods and bottled water disappeared from grocery shelves. Hotels inland were booked to capacity.

Along the U.S. Gulf Coast, boats, helicopters and other rescue vehicles went on alert. Some 4,500 workers were evacuated from offshore oil rigs. On one mission, a helicopter crashed, killing 13. For all the warnings, a few stubborn Texans refused to move from the path of the oncoming storm. "It's been 19 years since a hurricane crossed the coast," said Cecil Palmer of the National Weather Service's Houston office. "We have many newcomers who don't know what a hurricane is all about and many oldtimers who feel, 'Well, I rode it out before and I can do it again.'"

The obstinate oldtimers were right. Stalling off Brownsville for several hours on Saturday night, Allen lost much of its punch. Once the hurricane reached land and was no longer fueled by sea moisture, it rapidly subsided. Winds in Brownsville were less than 80 m.p.h. "Now it's just a ferocious little thunderstorm," said a National Weather Service spokesman.

Damage was nowhere near as severe as expected. In south Texas cities, streets were strewn with uprooted trees, downed power lines and splintered billboards. But most buildings were still standing. Torrential rains of 15 to 20 inches caused serious flooding in central Texas and destroyed some $400 million in crops, especially cotton. But the downpour also brought desperately needed moisture after a month-long drought.

According to early estimates, Allen caused no deaths in the U.S. "Everybody really jumped and left," said National Hurricane Forecaster Gil Clark. "There is not much chance of loss of life unless someone stayed down on one of the beaches." For a while, a tanker grounded by the storm 12 miles off the coast looked as if it would break up and spill its cargo of 11.8 million gallons of crude oil into the high seas. But the vessel appeared to be riding out the storm. "God was good to us," said Eddie Gonzales, a deputy sheriff in Brownsville, as the storm spent itself over sparsely populated range land. "It's as simple as that."