Hurricane Celia 1970 - Corpus Christi

Our home movies of the aftermath of Hurricane Celia in Corpus Christi, TX. Hurricane Celia made landfall Aug 3, 1970. Also included are still photos from various publications from that time. Be sure to hide the ads in order to see the captioning.

Music from Siegfried's Death and Funeral March; from "Twilight of the Gods" Richard Wagner 1876. Performed by The Bulgarian Radio and TV Symphony

• Category

  Travel & Events

[RudyGrace1]

Thanks for posting.Though I was only 7yrs old,I remember this hurricane vividly!Watching projectiles fly through the neighborhood(s.p.i.d/airline area),and the aftermath.Motorcycles piled up on top of each other in the parking lot of the Honda dealership(i was heartbroken!).The sound of windows breaking in my house,and the scramble to take cover.

[Yakima1]

We lived in the Airline / SPID vicinity, and we had lots of projectiles come toward our house as the screen from the old Lexington Drive-in Theater (aka Bellaire aka Capri) was blown apart!

[johnnysanantonio]

My wife and I were married in June..Celia hit 8 weeks later. I was downtown in an apartment building. My wife at her Mom's..tried to make it back before it hit..but got trapped by high wind and water. When the eye passed over you could see water receding in the Bay from the 5th floor of the Princess Louise Apartments. Saw a taxi go end over end into the Mercedes Dealership's front window. I always wonder why the Weather Channel never observes the anniversary of this 180mph monster. Thanks, Johny

[Yakima1]

Thanks for sharing your story.

[muttkat1]

What I like about this video is the fact that they gave you the names of most of the streets. Good work whoever made this video.

[Yakima1]

Thanks. Now that I have a laptop to take this video mobile, I can probably add more street names and addresses. I know the basic route of the trip around town, I just need to match up some of the houses and landmarks in order to provide the addresses.

[Trena Cooper]

I heard on the radar screen of the hurricane....that the tornados in it was like pepper sprinkled on your plate. lol. Some of the scenes of the aftermath surely looked like the work of a tornado. After 5 hurricanes...Celia being the last I moved away from the coast to Alabama, and wouldn't you guess right into tornado ally. lol

[Trena Cooper]

Many things were not reported. I wonder why they wouldn't report it. My dad worked for the caller times. Have you ever wondered why they put a fence around the court house and let it set all these years? My dad told me about a dozen people went into the basement for safety. According to him...the basement flooded and they were not rescued in time to save their lives. Just leaves you to wonder. Images are burned into my brain of all the horror. I lived thru 5, but that was the worst!

[Trena Cooper]

I'm in awe....here it is 42 years later, and I'm seeing this for the first time since August 3rd, 1970. My home was across the highway from the Derweiner (can't spell it lol) in the video. My house raised up off the foundation and I was in the closet with my 3 year old boy, my dog, my dad's girlfriend and I was big and pregnant. lol. Our neighbors house exploded and they were all blown out to sea. I worked at the H.E.B. store in the video and my husband worked at the refinerey at that fire!!!!

[John Steward]

Thanks for the subtitles with the locations. I was 6 when Celia hit, living in Annaville.

[eddiebear60]

HA! I remember the Circle K at 00:45. My dad took a picture of it. That image is burned in my mind. I was 10 years.

[TimeWasting101]

I remember that. We were in a house right ont he bay side of OCean Drive, and the water going out was scary enough .... watching it all come back in a rush was terrifying.