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Hurricane Audrey was a catastrophic and very deadly hurricane that devastated the southwestern Louisiana coast in 1957. Along with Hurricane Alex in 2010, it was also the strongest June hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin as measured by pressure. The rapidly developing storm struck southwestern Louisiana as an intense Category 3 hurricane, destroying coastal communities with a powerful storm surge that penetrated as far as inland. The first named storm and hurricane of the 1957 hurricane season, Audrey formed on June 24 from a tropical wave that moved into the Bay of Campeche. Situated within ideal conditions for tropical development, Audrey quickly strengthened, reaching hurricane status a day afterwards. Moving north, it continued to strengthen and accelerate as it approached the United States Gulf Coast. On June 27, the hurricane reached peak sustained winds of 125 mph (205 km/h), making it a major hurricane. At the time, Audrey had a minimum barometric pressure of 946 mbar (hectopascals; 27.91 inHg). The hurricane made landfall with the same intensity between the mouth of the Sabine River and Cameron, Louisiana, later that day, causing unprecedented destruction across the region. Once inland, Audrey weakened and turned extratropical over West Virginia on June 29. Audrey was the first major hurricane to form in the Gulf of Mexico since 1945.
Prior to making landfall, Audrey severely disrupted offshore drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico. Damages from offshore oil facilities alone were estimated at $16 million. Audrey caused much of its destruction near the border between Texas and Louisiana. The hurricane's strong winds resulted in widespread property and infrastructural damage. Power outages also resulted from the strong winds. However, as is typical with most landfalling tropical cyclones, most of the destruction at the coast was the result of the hurricane's strong storm surge, which was amplified by Audrey's rapid strengthening just prior to landfall. The storm surge was reported to have peaked as high as 12 ft (3.7 m), inundating coastal areas. Damage from the surge alone extended 25 mi (40 km) inland. The rough seas killed nine people offshore after capsizing the boat they were in. Further inland in Louisiana, the storm spawned two , causing additional damage. Audrey also dropped heavy rainfall, peaking at 10.63 in (270 mm) near Basile. In Louisiana and Texas, where Audrey first impacted, the damage toll was $128 million.
After moving inland and transitioning into an extratropical cyclone, Audrey caused additional damage across the interior United States. The storm produced 18 tornadoes across Mississippi and Alabama, causing $600,000 in losses and killing one person. As it moved towards the northeast, moisture associated with the extratropical remnants of Audrey intersected with a cold front over the Midwest, producing record rainfall that peaked at 10.20 in (259.08 mm) in Paris, Illinois. The resultant flooding killed 10 people. Elsewhere in the United States, the storm brought strong winds that wrought additional damage. Farther north, in Canada, 15 people were killed in Ontario and Quebec. Strong winds and torrential rainfall disrupted transportation services. In Quebec, ten people were killed in the Montreal area, making Audrey the deadliest hurricane to strike the Canadian province in recorded history. The storm was also considered among the worst storms to strike Quebec. In the United States, Audrey killed at least 416 people, the majority of whom were in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, though the final death total may never be known. Damage totaled $147 million in the country, at the time the fifth-costliest hurricane recorded in the US since 1900. The name Audrey was later retired from usage as an identifier for an Atlantic hurricane.
On June 25, the first reconnaissance aircraft to probe Audrey, a P-2 Neptune, reached the system to assess its strength, concluding that Audrey had strengthened into a hurricane on 18:00 UTC that day (1:00 p.m. CST), capping off an initial phase of rapid intensification about southeast of Brownsville, Texas. Now moving slowly northward around the periphery of a ridge of high pressure over the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the storm's strengthening slowed on June 26, though reconnaissance revealed an increase in the storm's rainfall. The following day, Audrey entered a second phase of intensification as it accelerated towards the United States Gulf Coast, reaching the equivalent of a modern-day Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale at 00:00 UTC on June 27 (7:00 p.m. CST June 26) and Category 3 status just six hours later. Between the final observation from aircraft and landfall, the storm's pressure had deepened by roughly 30 mbar (hPa; 0.89 inHg). The last observation near the storm's center occurred approximately five hours before landfall by the tanker Tillamook, documenting a pressure of 969 mbar (hPa; 27.94 inHg) at the western edge of the storm's eyewall. At 13:30 UTC (8:30 a.m. CST) on June 27, Audrey made landfall at peak intensity just east of the border between Texas and Louisiana with winds of 125 mph (200 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 946 mbar (hPa; 28.61 inHg). An oil rig observed conditions that suggested a much stronger storm with winds of 180 mph (290 km/h) and a pressure of 925 mbar (hPa; 27.32 inHg), but those were discarded as erroneous. Radar and ground observations suggested the storm had concentric eyewalls at the time of landfall, resulting in two wind maxima. Operationally, Audrey was assessed to have been a Category 4 hurricane at landfall, with various estimation methods suggesting a much lower barometric pressure, however the Atlantic hurricane reanalysis project reassessed the system having a lower peak intensity.
Audrey gradually weakened and turned to the northeast after moving inland, degenerating to a tropical storm on June 28. An approaching cold front caused Audrey to evolve into an extratropical cyclone, completing this transition on June 29 over West Virginia with a final pressure of 995 mbar (hPa; 29.38 inHg). At the same time, a second extratropical cyclone developed near Chicago, Illinois and tracked eastward. Six hours later, the remnants of Audrey were absorbed by this second extratropical cyclone over the Great Lakes. The interaction of Audrey with this second system led to the merged extratropical cyclone unexpectedly intensifying, producing hurricane-force winds as it moved across the Northeastern United States, aided in part by an unusual warming of the stratosphere. As an extratropical system, Audrey reached a minimum pressure of 974 mbar (hPa; 28.76 inHg) roughly north of Buffalo, New York in southwestern Quebec; the post-tropical strengthening of Audrey was reminiscent to that of Hurricane Hazel in 1954.
The high death toll caused by Audrey was partially blamed on the incompleteness of evacuations before the storm made landfall, attributed by meteorologist Robert Simpson to a lack of proper communication between coastal residents and forecasters. Although the Weather Bureau's advisories and warnings were technically accurate, they were found in Bartie v. United States to have lacked a sense of urgency or emergency. The warnings advised the evacuation of "low or exposed areas," but many inland residents at an elevation of did not consider themselves to be at a low elevation. In addition, newly elected city officials in Lake Charles, Louisiana, edited warnings and advisories disseminated by a local radio broadcast, tailoring the bulletins to local residents by trimming details deemed irrelevant and possibly resulting in a hesitance to evacuate until it was too late.
In Galveston, the storm surge swelled to a height of above mean sea level; the total expanse of coast that saw tides higher than spanned . The surge topped the Galveston Seawall, flooding the downtown streets and inundating businesses. Several boats in Galveston Harbor were sunk. A segment of Texas State Highway 87 between Sabine Pass and High Island was submerged. Despite the seawater inundation in some areas of Galveston Island, an extension of the Galveston Seawall completed in 1953 was assessed to have mitigated about $100,000 in damage from Audrey. A fish market, crab depot, and a smaller shack were destroyed in Texas City, and the city's fishing pier sustained $5,000 in damage after being struck by a loose barge. Two oil barges spanning were moved inland north of Gilchrist, Texas.
Portions of eastern Texas were analyzed to have experienced high-end Category 2 conditions as Audrey made landfall just east of the state. Winds reached in Port Arthur and in Galveston. Plate glass windows in downtown Galveston were broken by flying debris, as were high-rise windows in Port Arthur. At least 50 homes on the Bolivar Peninsula were flattened. Most roofs on the peninsula sustained substantial damage. The most severe damage on the peninsula occurred in and around Gilchrist, where the majority of destroyed homes were located. On the southern end of the Bolivar Peninsula, the effects of Audrey in Port Bolivar were limited to lost shingles. Galveston Island fared comparatively better than the Bolivar Peninsula but nonetheless sustained some impacts. Some beachfront establishments in Galveston were demolished by the strong winds and storm surge. The rough surf also washed out some segments of Galveston beaches, exacerbated by a local practice of digging holes to sell soil from private beachfront property. Minor power outages knocked out service to some 1,700 telephones, but power was quickly restored. Damage in Galveston County was estimated at $200,000–$300,000. In nearby Orange, homes were damaged by falling trees felled by strong winds. Power and other utility lines were also downed, leaving only connectivity for emergency telephones and cutting most power to the city. Fifteen people were injured while one was killed in Orange. At Jefferson County Airport, of rain fell on June 27, setting a daily rainfall record. The monetary cost of Audrey's damage in Texas totaled $8 million, with a conservative estimate of $1.5 million for Orange County alone. A total of nine fatalities occurred in the state, in addition to 450 injuries.
Saltwater inundation was particularly damaging to rice, while strong winds blew down corn and heavy rains flooded cotton fields; these were the main crop losses attributed to Audrey. In Louisiana, preliminary estimates of crop damage reached $5 million. Forests were also heavily impacted, with an estimated 50,000,000 ft () of timber lost primarily in the parishes of Jeff Davis, Allen, Evangeline, and LaSalle. Poisoning efforts that had begun prior to Audrey's arrival to mitigate a boll weevil infestation were disrupted, leading to a resurgence in boll weevils following the hurricane. The highest rainfall associated with Audrey fell in Louisiana, where were recorded just west of Basille; most of the heaviest rainfall occurred east of Audrey's center of circulation. Daily rainfall records were set in Jennings and Lafayette, recording and on June 27, respectively. Audrey also spawned two tornadoes in Louisiana: the first was an Fujita scale tornado east of Seabrook (New Orleans East) while the other one was an F1 tornado that damaged several homes near Arnaudville. In total, damage from Hurricane Audrey in Louisiana amounted to $120 million. An estimated 400 people lost their lives in the state, accounting for most of the deaths attributed to Audrey, while another 1,000 were injured.
On the Mississippi Gulf Coast, winds and tidal action caused some damage. However, the most severe damage in Mississippi occurred in a band stretching from the southwestern to northeastern corner of the state. Four tornadoes touched down in Mississippi resulting in slightly over $500,000 in damage. An F2 tornado in Philadelphia destroyed seven homes and caused nine injuries, while an F3 tornado—the strongest caused by Audrey—killed one and injured 10 in Brooksville. The Brooksville tornado also destroyed a Kraft Singles plant in the western side of the city and hospitalized six people, with another four suffering minor injuries; damage from that tornado was estimated between $100,000–$300,000. Another F2 tornado destroyed a grocery store and several large buildings in Clara. The strongest winds in Mississippi were measured in Jackson and Greenwood, clocking at . Mississippi's southwestern regions saw the heaviest rainfall in the state from Audrey, with rainfall totals ranging from . Heavy rains caused minor flooding along the banks of the Pearl River and Big Black River, affecting some farm lands. One person was electrocuted in Kosciusko after attempting to upright a utility pole, bringing the number of fatalities in the state to two. The total cost of damage in the state was $9 million, and 50,000 homes sustained some form of damage. Loss of crops in Mississippi totaled $2 million with corn, cotton, hay, and unharvested oats heavily damaged. As was the case in Louisiana, boll weevil poisoning efforts were thwarted in Mississippi.
Damage from Audrey in Arkansas was limited to minor roof damage caused by strong winds in El Dorado. The fringe effects of Audrey's remnant wind field and rainfall also extended to Georgia, where wind damage was light but widespread. Peaches were blown down from trees and corn was blown over. Falling trees and branches damaged homes and disrupted electric and telecommunication services. Tracking farther inland, the weakening storm brought gusts of up to to Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio, resulting in minor wind damage. Rainfall in these states produced minor flooding along streams and low-lying farmland, exacerbated by antecedent rainfall that had saturated the soil. Across Tennessee, property or crop damage associated with strong winds was reported in eleven counties, with property damage mostly being inflicted on roofs, trees, power lines, TV antennas, and other minor structures; one death and three injuries were linked to these winds. An F1 tornado destroyed a saw mill, a barn, and several other buildings near Dyersburg, Tennessee, the most northerly tornado associated with Audrey.
The interaction of Audrey and a second frontal system tracking across the Midwestern United States drew excess moisture across the region, leading to heavy rainfall across Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. Rainfall in those states peaked at in Paris, Illinois, with a similar maximum of in Hermann, Missouri. The rains in Paris, Illinois, contributed to the rainiest June in the city's history and a yearly record rainfall total. Highways in Illinois were submerged for as long as three days. in central Indiana led to the closure of 17 highways. Two women drowned after a bus was swept off one highway near Indianapolis, Indiana, where over of rain quickly fell. Another three drowned in Indiana, in addition to the inundation of over 1,000 homes and 125 businesses. Flooding washed away roughly of crops and destroyed highway and railroad bridges. An 18-car work train fell into a creek near Reelsville, Indiana, after the bridge it was crossing succumbed to floodwaters. Railroad losses alone accounted for $1.2 million of the $2.45 million in damage wrought by Audrey in Indiana.
A total of ten lives were lost in Illinois, Indiana, and New York due to heavy rains and strong winds brought by squalls in Audrey's extratropical remnants. Winds peaked at in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and in Jamestown, New York. Damage in Pennsylvania was limited to the state's western regions and confined primarily to the downing of trees, powerlines, and the loss of some roofs. One person was killed by lightning while another was injured by a falling tree. Areas of New York near Lake Ontario experienced intense wind gusts that caused widespread . The winds raised the water level in the lake above normal, damaging small boats. The rise in Lake Ontario also damaged sightseeing facilities and river docks downstream of the Niagara Falls; total damage in New York was estimated at between $250,000–$400,000 and four deaths were reported in the state. Hurricane-force winds extended as far east as St. Albans, Vermont, where winds were measured at . Across New England, power lines were downed while yachts were driven aground on the coast of Maine.
Audrey's storm surge on the Louisiana coastline began receding 10 hours after the storm struck, with the ocean returning to normal levels in around 1.5 days. Despite the brief period of submersion, the morphology of the coast changed significantly; about 50% of the coast had retreated inland, with a large amount of sedimentation occurring primarily in the form of mudflats. One arc of mud deposited on the coast measured in length and in width. In Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge, saltwater inundation of habitats led to a significant decrease in waterfowl and plants susceptible to saltwater like bullwhips; damage in the refuge set back management and development plans for the area by two years. Other plants intolerant to saltwater sustained a four-year decrease in productivity. Nutria, muskrat, raccoon, rabbit, and deer populations experienced 60% mortality, while mink and otters fared comparatively better. All animal nests were swept away by either the rough surf or strong winds.
The destruction wrought by Audrey on Cameron, Louisiana, was credited as contributing to the successful evacuation of Cameron Parish in advance of Hurricane Carla four years later, with the parish having a higher evacuation rate (96%) than any other location surveyed in the aftermath of Carla despite being at the edge of the warning area; however, the relevance of the so-called "Audrey effect" in the Carla evacuations is disputed.
The extensive storm surge caused by the hurricane represented the first research opportunity for the newly formed National Hurricane Research Project (NHRP) to investigate a major tropical cyclone inundation event since the organization's inception in 1954. After investigating the extent of the surge, the NHRP concluded that despite the abundant availability of storm tide observations, a lack of inland information prevented a detailed reconstruction of Audrey's surge; such data would help inform local emergency decisions and improve surge forecasting. Following the guidance of the NHRP, the Weather Bureau began installing additional tide recorders along the coast after Hurricane Audrey.
Due to the damage and fatalities caused by Audrey, the name was retired and will never be used again for an Atlantic tropical cyclone.
The case was argued in the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana and presided by Edwin F. Hunter. The court ruled that the Weather Bureau failed to convey the urgency of the situation to those on the coast in their warnings, but asserted that evacuation orders were not within the duties of the Weather Bureau. The case was dismissed on the grounds that the claim was barred by the discretionary function and misrepresentation exception in the Federal Tort Claims Act as the Weather Bureau's warnings were based on subjective judgements and errors were unintentional; thus, Hunter ruled that Whitney had failed to establish negligence on the part of the Weather Bureau. Following the dismissal, Whitney appealed the case to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which ruled per curiam in favor of the United States in Bartie v. United States 326 F.2d 754 (1964). Another 109 suits similar to Bartie seeking total damages of $9,755,000 were filed in federal court but did not come to trial.
Storms affecting similar areas:
Other strong early-season hurricanes:
Canada
The remnants of Audrey entered Ontario with tropical storm force winds after crossing Lake Ontario, while gusts reached . Heavy rainfall in the province washed out roads and rail lines. Six people were trapped in Algonquin Provincial Park for four days due to dangerous river currents and downed trees blocking roads. One boy drowned and a firefighter died due to the storm, while three other people died in Ontario due to traffic accidents. In neighboring Quebec, the remnants of Audrey were considered the worst storm in about 20 years, and over 100 houses were damaged by floods. The Montreal district of Saraguay lost power for several days. Throughout Montreal, there were 10 deaths, nine of which due to traffic accidents. This made Audrey the deadliest tropical cyclone in Quebec on record.
Aftermath
Rescue parties from the United States Coast Guard were quickly dispatched for the Cameron area in search for survivors. The Coast Guard also dispatched a cutter from New Orleans with medical supplies for affected regions. More than 40,000 people were left homeless, with many were housed at McNeese State University in Lake Charles until they could be permanently resettled. Statues were erected in honor of those killed by Audrey in southwestern Louisiana, including Highland Memorial Park in Lake Charles where 33 were buried.
Bartie v. United States (1963)
In 1962, Whitney Bartie, along with hundreds of others, sued the United States federal government, asserting that the United States Weather Bureau had failed to give proper and accurate warning on Audrey and its effects. Bartie and his family had concluded that there was no need to evacuate following a 10:00 p.m. CST news broadcast on June 26—the night before Audrey made landfall. The family was awoken the following morning by water flooding their house, forcing them to climb onto their roof; the winds and rising water killed all in Bartie's family except Whitney. Whitney's claim was two-pronged, with the first point alleging that the Weather Bureau was negligent in their warnings, and the second alleging that despite experiencing the full brunt of the storm, Weather Bureau advisories advising the evacuation of those at lower elevations did not implicate him; Whitney sought $360,000 in damages from the federal government. A hurricane expert testifying for the Weather Bureau suggested that Audrey's deviation from the forecast path were as accurate as could be expected; at the time, the track error on a 24-hour hurricane forecast averaged .
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