Hurricane Allen - Jamaica & Texas - August 6-10, 1980

[danw1374]

Listen to that wind!

[southtxgent]

Allen had the lowest measured barometric pressure of any Atlantic storm on record and was also the largest in terms of total area. I believe those still hold true today. I was in Corpus Christi working at the Corpus Christi Bank & Trust and rode out the storm in the building. It was pretty wild but fun at the same time. The reason it didn't come ashore as a Cat 5 was because of its large size--as it neared land, the outer bands were over land and it began to diminish at that point.

[TornadoWarning]

Listen to that wind...love the shot of the old Gulf gas station at 5:05. Miss seeing those!

[Vuong2344]

Allen was a windest atlantic hurricane.

[thenatester45]

i was turning up the volume on my computer at first but when the sound came it almost gave me a heart attack

[ilovetogofast88]

Considering that Allen was a Category 5 throughout much of it's life and the damage it caused, I'm surprised it doesn't achieve the same fame as Andrew, Camille, the 1900 and the 1935 hurricane

[hitokirimasamun]

that would make a sweetass place to build a windmill

[cel1268910]

lol why is there Hurricanes named after people??!!

[ilovetogofast88]

@cel1268910

Probably so they are easier to track and so they don't confuse one hurricane with another

[ricardoblacksabbath]

dolly was a fart compared to this one, good luck that the Valley and north mexico werent so crowded at that time!!

[cyclonejimcom]

I don't remember the model but Im sure it was a 1980 model rental car.

[Naushop1]

How wide was Allen's eye? On the Sat. image it looks like a pinhole. Were you in the eye at all?

[cyclonejimcom]

I was in eye at Fort Mansfield Texas. Allen had a pinhole eye in the eastern Caribbean but it grew somewhat larger after that.

[TornadoWarning]

Now that's hardcore chasing when you can get footage in Jamaica and then catch the second landfall in south Texas. Excellent footage.

[Hammerbulb]

Excuse me, but do you still have your Super-8 Movie Camera, Does Super-8 sound film in color still exist, and was the sound recorded by a microphone? Please respond cyclonejim!

[cyclonejimcom]

Yes, I still have that camera Canon super-8 sound camera. It does record sound through a microphone. I doubt if they still make the film it was Kodak K-25/40.

[Knightoftheorient]

Wow real archive hurricane footage, this looked like a monster! I was in Florida for Hurricane George in 98 and this looks as bad as that if not worse!

[FutureMeteorologist]

Nice job you are a truly a stormchasing veteran.

Stormchasing even back in Hurricane Allen

[021293]

lovin this video!! leave me a comment

funny video lets chat wN

[AngryMelon5]

poor dog =[ (at the end)

[Copper20]

@AngryMelon5

I think that was a stray actually.

[Copper20]

@Copper20

In fact, was this your dog, cyclonejimcom?

[xoPurpleRainbowox]

I was born on August 6... IM A HORRIBLE PERSON!!

[duhgamez1]

was amazing to see this video. I was born on Aug 9 in Edinburg, Tx and have never seen footage of the storm til now.  Have read about it on NOAA but actually seeing video of what my family went through when I was born is too much for words. Now live in Galveston, tx and just went through hurricane Ike. Road out the storm in Galveston and now just waiting to rebuild. Thank you for the footage. Daniel

[heathey2]

A perfect day to fly a kite.

[gregarious24]

INSANE! Incredible footage.

[olh1152]

I was there living in Kingston back in 1980. I remember the flooding and the howling winds all night. The storm passed along the north coast. I worked for the Government as a land surveyor back then. I was astonished by the strength of the storm surge as huge boulders were washed up along the beaches. Just listen to the wind in the video. You will see how strong the storm was.

[bentheking777]

hurricane camille & allen was the strongest...

[HurricaneFreak30336]

not really...

both had low pressures, but wilma was the strongest.

[Naushop1]

Yes Wilma is the undisputed champ of pressure.

Gilbert lost that seat in '05.

[romoore14]

I was 16 at the time and living in Houston Texas .We had a trip to Mexico planned ...they kept thinking that Allen was going to hit Houston so bored up our house and headed to Mexico not knowing we were heading into the path of Allen...we got into a car accident when a bus hit us from behind and my 11 year old brother was killed we were all critically injured I'm 45 now and it seems like yesterday

[paradiddle1]

Wow...I was 6 years old in Kingsville, Texas. It was my first experience of a hurricane. Thanks so much for this post...memories indeed!!

[bluetoothswife]

Thank you so much for posting this video. I was born during this hurricane in Freeport Texas. My mother was given an emergency c-section and evacuated from the hospital 10 hours later due to this incredible hurricane. I have never seen anything about Allen until now. Again thank you for allowing me to see this.

[krushsister]

Thank you for this great video historical time capsule, Jim. I can't believe how beautifully the audio and video were preserved. I was at the time living about a hundred miles away and wasn't even a year old, but we were directly impacted by Allen in the sense that we were flooded by the ensuing rains. My parents told of being housebound during that time, though obv that's far better than how the people of Brownsville (and Corpus Christi) fared at the time. I favorited this video.

[HurricaneFreak30336]

At 4:37, what were the wind speeds? It sounded like at least 140MPH.

[kmothersil]

Allen was a category 5 when it hit Jamacia.

[kmothersil]

Plus it lost strength of the process and gained strength. I got to tell you guys hurricanes this intense do not appear very often. We may not see other being that intense for some time.

[HurricaneFreak30336]

yeah i know.

[cbehr91]

At, 140 nobody would be able to stand upright to film. Try 70 or 80 judging by the swaying in the trees.

[NeoCortex34]

cbehr91, they filn the 140 by staying in their cars so they can stay upright to film.

[DrummerFL83]

this is vintage video!! dammit!! i was 6 yrs old when that thing hit us! im from Brownsville, Tx. that house at 6:48 still stands, im 33 now, very conserved video jim! love it!

[babalu95]

I was 6 as well in Brownsville at the time. I remember boarding up our house and all my aunts and uncles came to stay at our place. I lived by the main post office. That house at 6:48 seem very familiar. It looks like the one on the way to Sunrise Mall. -Leroy Garcia

[JamCol]

Very cool. I was a kid in Brownsville when Allen hit. We tried to ride it out at my Grandmother's house but It got so bad that we had to be evacuated by the National Guard.

The video brings back some memories! Thanks!

JamCol

[NeoCotex34]

Im in awe of this video!

[TheUndercatCompany]

The most AMAZING video you have ever made even though it is 27 years old.

[hfkjehgufihgiufewi]

what kind of car is featured getting battered in the storm? Additionally those are some incredible howling winds!

[cyclonejimcom]

This was taken from old super-8 movie film. For a couple of years I was using super-8 sound film, Kodak introduced it around about 1979, I purchased it in 1980 just in time for the 1980 hurricane season. 1983 I went into home video, it has improved greatly over the years since.

[liquidstl]

WOW...!!! WOW THAT is AMAZING. The audio is certainly some of the best I've heard..... The motion of those trees looks WICKED too...

Good Job JIM

[supercellstorm]

Ya echaba de menos ver un huracán como estos que aun se recuerda como si fuera ayer con esas imágenes.Muchas gracias subir este vídeo me a gustado mucho.

[real0988]

Impresionante video de un huracán legendario, gracias Jim :  )

[Hurricane23mph]

Indeed classic!!Thanks for uploading.Adrian

[vmax135]

Classic footage!!! Some of those waves in Jamaica, especially the ones in the distance, were HUGE. The sound of the wind howling in some of those Texas scenes is incredible too. I can just imagine what it would have been like if it had stayed at 909mb at landfall.