"I remember this storm vividly even though I was only 14 years old. I am 46 now. I have been through 5 hurricanes including Carla as a toddler, Camille, Beulah, Celia and Alicia. I have been in a 130 mph hurricane and it was nothing like Celia. Celia's sustained winds had to be much higher in my area of the city. I lived on Parade Drive just south of the city towards the Naval Air Station. I recall looking out our windows (the wind was blowing parallel to them, not head on). The palm trees were all down on my street and flapping in the breeze like holding a piece of paper out your car window at 70 mph. I was impressed by the surreal scene because the trees which normally stood 30 to 40 feet high were laying slightly above ground level and looking like minature trees. I had never seen winds affect at those speeds on trees that size. Pieces of homes and roofs were blowing back and forth down the street. The rain was truly flying sideways to the ground. Not even a slight angle to the ground. It was perfectly parallel. Some people describe the high winds of a hurricane as sounding like a freight train. The sound that inundated us for 2 or 3 hours was like a gargantuan whistle blowing across our house. There is no way to describe decible level. The sound was not only a continuously loud bass that rattled your chest, but shrill and stacato at the same time. I cant describe it. It was an impossible sound in my mind. How could anything on this earth sound like that. My dog and I got under the bed at that point for 2 or 3 hours. I did not have to call my dog, it was his idea and I thought it was a good one. I cant remember what my parents or my sister were doing. My youngest brother had been born, but I cant recall anything he was doing at the time either. I was totally fixed by the storm and new that my house was going to explode at any minute. When the eye wall passed over there was the calm that people talk about. What impressed me was the blue sky and the birds circling in the air, not knowing where to go. A mile or so away the clouds went from the sky to the ground. It was very strange and looking back later I knew that to be the wall of the other side. I looked off in the distance across a golf course that was within a quarter mile of us. I watched the tree line along the course, the rain swallowed them up and they disappeared as the other side of the wall came our way. I went back in the house and under my bed again. When the other side of the wall came, everything that was laying down in one direction flew over and snapped off, flying away in the wind.

When it was all over, my friends and I went out and looked at the damage. The Woolco department store was completely flattened. Every other house in our neighborhood had severe damage. We were without electricity for 3 weeks after the storm. Why doesn't anyone talk about this one on the news when they talk about hurricanes of the 20th century. I will never forget every moment of Celia."

--ChorpusChristiBoy

"Yes, I remember this hurricane I was living in Corpus Christi at the time and I was going to be a senior in high school that year. As I recall, my family did not go to a shelter. Instead, we chose to stay in our apartment. It was quite scary, but we made it through with little damage. The power was out for about 1 week."

--Anonymous

"I was 10 yrs old and visiting my grandparents along w/my two sisters and two brothers when Hurricane Celia hit Texas. They lived near Corpus Christy at the time.

My grandparents did not feel we had enough time to get out before it hit so we stayed at their house until the eye of the storm arrived. It was so scary, the floors kept rising and falling, we saw huge trees being pulled up and slammed down all around us as we watched. I still remember a person in a truck driving on the road in front of the house and we saw it get blown off of the road!

We stayed at my grandparents house until the eye arrived. At that time, they drove us to the grocery store my uncle worked. There were many other people who did the same thing. We were all walking around the store when suddenly people started yelling "Go to the back of the store!" Just as everyone got back there, the store's front/roof fell in, almost killing my uncle and a co-worker! The manager of the store was so kind, he made sure everyone was as comfortable as possible and handed out shoes to those of us who didn't have any on, as well as handing out food and drinks for everyone.

To this day, I am so fearfull of storms, especially those with high winds!"

--wreepete

"I was is the Coast Guard, stationed on the Coast Guard Cutter Point Baker at the time of Celia. Our home oprt was Port Aransas but decided to move inland to the Corpus Christy ship channel. It was quite the storm. We were tied to the Coast Guard Depot docks with double lines and rode it out observing the shrimp fleet from Aransas Pass and surrounding areas while tied to the same ship docks, one by one break away and get tossed around in the ship channel and onto other shrimp boats and then finally sinking. Not one or two but quessing 50 to 100 shrimp boats sunk and three times as many severly damaged.

At one time the Coast guard Cutter Mallet, tied up behind us radioed that their lines holding them to the dock were breaking and that they had no othere to keep them tied to the dock. While on the bridge of my own boat, after recieving the radio message, I volunteered to cary our extra line, the one we used to tow ships, down the dock to them. It was not that easy. This rope was nylon, 927 feet long, double braided witha core. Very heavy when wet and very long. The winds were strong only allowing me to advance a few feet at a time. The distance to cary the big rope was approx. 100 feet. The rain with the wind was going sideways and sometime up. Well, I made it down to a small building tied down to the dock, about the size of four phone booths put together. There were many ropes attaching it to the dock. By the time I made it down to this Quartermaster Shack the winds were more intense, I was soaked and so was the towing rope I was draging. One of the men from the Mallet managed to get off his boat onto the dock. I first noticed him flying parrell to the dock about six feet off the ground. The wind had picked him up and carried him like a toy. I dove out, tackled him and brought him down to the dock landing on the back of my right hand. My hand had split open about two inches and blood was everywhere. I wrapped it up with a hankerchief and together with the mand from the Mallet through the ling to their boat allowing them to winch themselves back to the dock. There was 14 men onthat boat and certainly all would have been lost. The mans last name was Wolfe. He was a first class engineman. Nothing else was ever said abot that storm except but for the greatful men on that boat. I rarely talked about that storm but this is a story that needed to be told. I was crazy and stupid to volunteer but wauld gladely do it again. The Coast Guard Men and Women are a rare breed and I am glad to have been a part."

--Rick

" We moved into Portland, TX 4 days ahead of Celia (8-3-70). I left work in Corpus Christi at 10 AM and headed home. At 2 pm the NW wind speed increased and the rain was falling horizontal until 5 pm. We could hear glass breaking and ominous noises on the 2nd floor as our family crouched down in the south end of the house. At 5pm the wind speed was minimal and the sun was bright. As we walked thru the house we could see there was no roof (just sky), broken glass everywhere, and water soaked contents & carpeting.We went outside and talked with the folks up and down the street---everyone wondered if that was the end or just the EYE of the hurricane. At 5:25 pm we found the answer--it was the EYE that passed over Portland. The wind again increased for a repetition of the earlier 3 hours except the horrendous wind and rain were from the SE direction. We changed our position to the Master BR closet with a door facing the north. We kept a matress over our families heads in the event the upper story of the house would disintegrate over us. At 8:30 pm the wind decreased and we were able to leave in our car during heaavy rain heading for a San Antonio motel. WHen we returned to Portland 2 days later, there were dog houses, small boats, and other debris in the streets and on lawns. Our wooden 2x6 roof rafters roof were stuck in the rear neighors yard like javelins landing and all fences were flattened, Neighbors from 2-3 blocks away returned slides to us. We lived in a trailer for nearly 5 months and moved back into the reconstructed house 1 week before Christmas.The Corps of Engineers and Red Cross did a fine job helping everyone without electricity or gas for about 3 weeks, The Corps picked up debris placed at the curb and the Red Cross supplied food at the school cafeterias for townspeople."

--Bob Jack

"I was 10 yrs old when Celia passed through Aransas Pass,TX. Large trees were plucked from the earth. A trailer park had just opened up next door and the metal from the trailers was vibrating eerily through the air along with household items. Then the eye passed--a period of total silence and calm. Next, the tail of the storm lashed bringing more water. Later, fish and water moccasins swam around our yard. The trailer park was gone, looking like an explosion had destroyed it."

--Anonymous

"We lived on the north side of the Nueces bay at east White Point. Celia demolished and scattered our house leaving only part of a closet. We tracked a tornado like path which came through our house amd continued forward 300 yards. Trees, wiring, and everything else was twisted with pieces of shingles stuck deep into tree trunks with some trees ripped and twisted from the ground. The wind force was unbelievable."

--Gary Koonce

"I was in the Coast Guard stationed on the Naval Base and rode out this storm in our hangar. Our wind gauge read 200 mph and then was blown off the top of the hangar. The chain link fence was bent parallel to the ground. The wind broke the large chain we had holding the hangar doors closed .The wind blew off 4000 sq.ft . of the hangar roof before we could get the doors clsed again. The falling debris damaged the helecopters in the hangar.
WE stood in a hallway in ankle deep water and the concrete walls actually were moving like rubber. We han no electricity for 10 days. The whole experience was very frightening. I wrote an essay about it while I was in college after I got out of the service. The instructor was so impressed with the way I wrote about my experience that he read it to all his classes."

--Petty Officer Armer

"I was 13 years old that year, August 3, 1970, and had a fishing trip planned with my Dad that morning. Naturally we cancelled, as we heard a small storm was headed our way. We had already been through Carla and Buelah so thought this would be no big deal. Suddenly about noon, it became a big deal and we scrambled to get ready; it was too late to evacuate. We boarded up, braced ourselves, bottled up drinking water. Suddenly our green corrugated patio cover ripped off and flew over the house into the street, it was 3 PM. The power flickered off. What seemed only minutes later the roof of a neighbors home lifted off and crashed into my room. The foot thick utility pole snapped like a twig falling inches from the house. Trees crashed to the ground, shingles were floating through the air like fallen autumn leaves. Then, like turning off a light switch, the storm stopped; the "eye" was passing, we were only halfway thru the storm. As mom and daddy checked for damage, I raced outside to see if "my world" was still intact. Neighbors were checking on each other, as some had already sustained major damage and injuries. The blue sky overhead was now darkening slightly, the wind had changed and was strengthening; it was time to get back inside, as the worst was yet to come. I don't remember what time of day it was, probably around 5PM. Celia's winds slammed us again with a more angry fury than before. Realizing, in horror, the winds were much more than the expected 95 mph, my mother drained the bathtub (earlier she had filled water for use post-storm), daddy grabbed a flashlight and I grabbed by transistor/weather band radio, and my dog, Schatze. As breaking glass exploded around us, daddy and I rasseled with a twin size mattress that he feared we would need for cover. The sound of the wind is something I will never forget, it wasn't even a "howl", it was more like a freight-train, so intense that we could no longer hear each other, even if we shouted; we could no longer hear the destruction, we could only feel the tremors of our home crumbling around us. As Celia raged, we huddled in that small bathroom. It was like a black and white movie with no sound, but you just "knew" what was happening. We climbed into the bathtub, mom clutching the dog, daddy and I holding the mattress overheard like a shield, our last line of defense; our last hope for survival. I don't know how long we were in that tub, I don't remember the sun going down, I just remember being able to hear my mom crying and my dad telling her the storm was over. Only then do I remember the shattered glass embedded in my legs, as the fear that had overwhelmed me now subsided and the sensation of pain returned. We made our way through water, bricks, sheetrock and glass (in our den) by the beam of a flashlight to our front door. We peered out into total blackness, only starlight in the clear sky above was visible. We embraced, we cried, we thanked God for keeping us safe. Another Monday of my life had ended. My family had survived. I would have the chance to start high school in September. Although the scars on my legs have dissappeared, and the walls of that house on Rice Drive were rebuilt (I still own the house today), the scars of that day, August 3rd, 1970, ripped in my memory by Celia's power, will remain as long as I live."

--Cindy Schuetze Hartley

"My husband managed a Winn's Store in the Annaville area of Corpus Christi. We were awaiting a shipment of tape, batteries, etc. from the San Antonio warehouse when the first squalls hit. An official (from San Antonio) called just as we were leaving to ask if we were still open; my husband exclaimed, "Man, there's a hurricane blowing in!" We were home a few minutes before the wind got serious. I had been sitting on our couch watching the winds when my husband went to the front door to hold it closed; I went over to help him and just seconds later, the double windows blew in over the couch. The force of the wind blew out two side windows. We felt the house shudder but, thankfully, that depressurized the house. But - we were terrified! Two weeks prior to the storm, my husband had cleaned the garage and put all the baby furniture in the rafters (crib, stroller, etc.); the garage roof ended up in the field behind our house. (We had to get all new baby stuff the following Nov.) Back to the Winn's store. The windows were boarded with 12 sheets of plywood. Pieces of them were found behind the store. The shipment from San Antonio was a complete loss as was most of the mdse. in the store. Most of our area was without electricity and phone service for two weeks. A visit to my parents for a hot shower and air conditioning was VERY welcome! The brick homes in the area were the hardest hit. It appeared as if a giant sledgehammer had been at work. The repairs on the house were not completed until Dec. We moved back into the house Jan. 1 with a new baby boy to grace our newly fixed home!"

--Judy

"While I had just turned 15 when Celia hit Corpus Christi I remember it vividly. We watched from our house as our garage roof was destroyed before our eyes. Having lived in Louisiana and Texas through the years we had weathered many hurricanes (Carla & Camille) but nothing had prepared us for the devastation we experienced with Celia. It was a fast moving storm that developed quickly and gave little chance to evacuate. My father worked for the phone comapany at the time and I remember being without power or phones for 3 weeks and not seeing him for about 4 as the repair crews worked night and day."

--Kenyon

"I was 34 when Celia hit my home of Corpus Christi, Texas. My parents owned the Turner Motel on Hiway 9 which I managed. When I heard about the storm I called my mom, she said dad was at work at the Naval Base, or Aradmac, as it was known back then. I went and bought plywood and duck tape and started in working on the window of the motel. My mother came and took my two children Leisa age 9 and Dean age 3 to her home so they would be safer. When it did hit it was more than I expected. The wind blew so hard, I kept seeing huge pieces of tin blow by as I looked through a crack in the door, and thinking we don"t have any tin on the Motel. I was in the office and water was up to my knees, I looked up to see an 18 wheeler parked across the street at another motel with a trailer attached just blow over on it side. Then our sign which was about 20 feet in the air and with about a 10" iron pipe in the ground just bent double like a match.

By this time I thought it would be best if I moved to the living quarters of the motel. I stood there awhile watching all this tin going by. Then I heard a loud slam and after a few minutes I found the cause. It was the roof rising and falling in my bedroom. I thought it was time to leave, so I waded out in to the courtyard of the motel, I could see power lines flashing in the water around me. I made it to an empty room and slamed the door behind me and waited out the storm. The eye passed and there was total calm, then here it came again from the backside. I sat on a couch wraped in a blanket. waiting.

When I could not hear the wind howling, I opened the door. I was in shock, water was everywhere at first I thought it was the Gulf or ocean, but no it was just a lot of rain water. As I looked at the damage I could not believe what I was seeing. All the screen door handles on the motel rooms were mashed flat, like someone had taken a hammer and beat them. And the pieces of tin I kept seeing were not from the motel but were pieces of mobil homes from the trailer park that was about 5 blocks away. I had no electric or phones. I had to get to my children there was nothing left of the motel. I got in my car and tried the water was everywhere and the power lines danced on the water.

I was cold and crying and at the same time mad at myself because I could not get to them. It took hours to drive maybe 10 miles on the way I met my dad he was trying to get to me. I told him there was nothing left of the motel, he told me the children were ok, but their home was heavly damaged. I got to mother and my children, there were no windows, glass everywhere, but my family was alive. Mother had went under the bed with my children, although she had trouble keeping my 3 year son under there. When it was all over we were told that the wind hit 187 mph, and I believe that.

We had no phone service for a month and no electricity for weeks. We paid a $1. 00 for a bag of ice, this was when ice was 15 cents a bag. The only way we could get gas, because the pumps worked on electricy, was to find a station that had a lawnmour hooked up to it to pump gas and that was $2. 00 a gallon. This was my 3rd storm, but it was by far the worst. We slept out in the courtyard of the motel and we had people beging for just a matterss to sleep on. I would not want to experience that again, but now I am older and wiser."

--Diane Finlay Williams

"I was getting ready to start high school when Hurricane Celia hit Corpus Christi. I had been through Carla and Beulah, but these were mild in comparison.

What I remember most about this storm is that sections of fence flew through the air as though they were pieces of paper. The sliding glass door in my friend's house where I spent the storm bowed inward (what seemed like several inches). We sat in the hallway and listened as the station the radio was tuned to was demolished by their own tower when it fell onto the station.

When it safe to venture outside, we were horrified to see houses leveled by the incredible winds. What was so strange is that in many cases, houses standing on either side of those that had been destroyed were barely harmed. A family in our church weathered the hurricane in an interior closet as their house crumbled around them--evidence of God's grace and mercy.

After the storm, downed fences and no airconditioning brought neighbors out of their homes. We gathered in my front yard. The man next door played his guitar, and we sang and shot the breeze. Despite the heat, humidity, and limited water supply, I have good memories of those days after the storm--when neighbors were friends, and Corpus Christi managed to pick up the pieces from the wrath of Hurricane Celia. "

--Debbie G.

"I was 7 yrs. old and lived on Chase St. when Celia hit our house in Portland. At first it was exciting with the wind and rain but soon it became absolutely terrifying. I remember the sound of the glass breaking in 2 of the bedrooms and almost injuring my mom as she walked down the hallway. The patio covering in the backyard blew off into the field behind us.

The sound of the wind was so loud that you almost had to yell to be heard. The front door wouldn't stay shut so my dad put a mattress against it and pushed as hard as he could to keep it blowing open. I remember my dad was very concerned that a tornado might spawn and cause the house to explode. He told my mom and my sister and me to get in the closet while he held the front door shut. I remember sitting in the closet to this day with my mom and sister with a blanket over our heads while the storm raged all around us. It was so scary because you really weren't sure from one moment to the next if the walls would give in.

After the storm was over we went outside and saw that our neighbor's brick house across the street was missing an entire side of his garage wall. There was no running water or electricity for a long time after that. It was miserable and I'll never forget it."

--Steve Griffith

"I will never forget what hurricane Celia did to the Corpus Christi area as I was 14 years old and the news was making it sound like Celia was not going to be a big deal so my dad decided we would ride it out as we rode out Beulah. My mom went into work the morning before the storm was suppose to hit and I remember my dad calling her to tell her to come home because he heard the storm would be hitting sooner than anticipated. Mom convinced all the other workers to leave as well and it was a good thing because the offices and warehouse was a total loss due to hurricane destruction.

I remember when Celia hit the wind was so intense our house was breathing in and out and we were expecting it to blow up any minute. We moved to the center of the house because the constant battering from the high winds were such that my dad was scared we were going to die. I remember being mad at weather forecasters and my dad because I felt we could of left if my parents had not felt we could ride out storm. Our beautiful palm trees bent over like they were rubber, tops of trees touching ground.

Ever once in a while my brother and I would look out our back door window watching debris flying by. I couldn't comprehend the rain blowing sideways. The high pitched sound of the wind was deafening. The constant pounding of wind for hours made Celia one of the scariest things I have ever gone through and I do not ever want to go through another hurricane ever. Corpus Christi was declared a disaster area after storm was over and the devastation was such that President Nixon put us under martial law. We had no water no electricity for two or three weeks.

After storm the electrical lines were laying on the streets and people were told to not try to drive or walk around wires until power company could fix. My dad had to go out and buy a generator so we could save our food from spoiling. People could not leave city and no one was allowed in or out after hurricane. Luckily we filled our bath tub with water which no showers or baths could be taken. We could not flush toilets it was awful.

We had a curfew every evening because of the looting. I remember after storm the alarms and sirens going off in our area as we lived near a shopping center. We lived just 6 or 7 blocks off ocean front and our house thank goodness did not sustain alot of damage. I remember if you were caught out past curfew you were thrown into jail.

Why don't we ever hear about this hurricane? It made me aware of the power of a hurricane and that you do not sit around and wait to leave area that is going to be affected because people can't predict weather. Celia ended up being one of the worst devastating hurricanes in my lifetime."

--Tracey

"I was 6 years old when Celia hit Corpus Christi. We lived in a little house that was on a crawl space rather than a slab on the corner of Teak. I remember my parents and grandmother were all very tense and I knew something was coming but I didn't really understand. I remember looking out the front window (until I was told to stay away because it was dangerous) and seeing the trees whipping around and all the rain. My room was out on it's own with windows on 3 sides of it. I went into my room to get something and my floor was vibrating from the wind rushing around it. When the eye hit my father wanted to go out and inspect the damage but Mom wouldn't let him. We lost a chinaberry tree in the front yard, our fence in the back yard, the rear window of my mom's VW, and had some damage to the roof over my room. I remember going out in the front yard the next day and playing on the downed tree, using Dad's bathrobe belt as a vine to swing on. . . I got in trouble for that one! "

--BTWaid

""The summer of 1970 was a traumatic year for me. The dread of attending Junior High was at a high point in August, as September loomed just around the corner. But something even more traumatic would occur on Aug. 3, 1970. That morning I was at play with the usual neighborhood kids on East Vanderbilt St.

The hurricane was supposed to go North of Corpus and only had 90 mph winds at that time. We were attacking wasp nest in a tree at Mrs Brown's house(one of my favorite activities at the time)when my Mother came over to tell me that the hurricane was heading staight toward us. I had just gotten stung(surprise)when I was told I had to go in the house. The news was met with excitement by me and most of the other kids on this boring, hot summer day. I thought evilly that my revenge for being stung would probably come from the approaching hurricane which would hopefully blow the whole nest away.

After helping Dad with some "hurry up defense" preparations around the house we settled in for thr storm. Having been through Carla, which was a 175 mph storm in 1961, (minor for us with 80 mph winds) and Beulah in 1967 with 100 mph winds and a lot of rain, I was not daunted in the least over Celia and was looking forward to it.

The bad thing about Celia was not only the high gust, but that it seemed to strengthen rapidly right before it came on shore. At first it was pretty much what I expected it would be. But the winds seemed to get stronger and stronger way past the point that 90mph should be. But as I later learned the storm came in with 130-140 mph sustained, with incredible gusts. My excitement gradaully receded into terror as the day went on. When the tall palm trees that lined our street started to snap in half, I knew we were in trouble since they always swayed with the wind up to that point, no matter how high the wind speed. Then we heard and felt a loud crash in the back of the house near the dining room window, the next door neighbors garage had blown apart, with the roof laying in our back yard on top of the loquat tree.

The loud boom was from a board that hit the asphalt shingles on the side of our house right next to the window. Had the board hit head on instead of sideways, or went through the window, one of us probably would have been killed since it was inline with the living room we were in. Later my parents bedroom window was knocked out by a flying tree limb. I remember having to help dad get the door to the room closed to keep out the wind and rain. He tied an extension cord around the doorknob and tied the other end to my bedroom doorknob to keep it from blowing back open. It took both of us pulling to get the door to close. The wind and pressure were incredible. By this time I was close to tears because I truly believed that the house would be blown away.

Another hallmark of Celia was the duration of the storm, since the eye passed over us, we went through hours (it seemed to me days) of wind. Like I'm sure a lot of people did, we went outside to survey the damage while the eye was over us. It looked like a bomb went off, there were pieces of rock roofing material all over the place, tree limbs, trash cans and other assorted debris. Pieces of rock roof had even cut through our chain link fence which was sredded, and roof chunks were lodged under the cedar shingles of our garage.

I thought how a person could be beheaded if they were hit by a piece. Even at twelve years old, I was taken aback by all the damage and horrible things that could have happened, and the other half of the storm still had to pass through.

Act two of Celia began about 15 minutes after we went back inside. Dad knew how guickly the winds would pick up and wanted to make sure we were back inside well before it started up again. This was the part of the storm that took the neighbors garage apart and caused the most damage. After it was finally all over it was just getting dark. We could see a large fire in the distance which turned out to be a gas storage tank in Ingleside on the other side of the bay that blew up. Then the fun really started, no electricity for a week, nothing cold to drink, no a/c.

Just hours of waiting in line for a block of ice at Ray high school, using kerosene lamps at night, eating canned food, (after cooking all the meat and items that could spoil)trying to sleep in the hot and humid conditions of south Texas during August with the overwhelming sound of hundreds of frogs in the night. I know a lot of folks had it a whole lot worse than we did, but suffice it to say, It was more than enough for me to never hope another storm to come our way again.

The Baker J. H. S. gym completly lost it's roof, I remember playing volleyball in what was left of the gym, a floor an some partial walls, while the huge roof was laying several hundred feet away in the field like a giant cradle.

My first year of Junior high was about as bad as I thought it would be. I grinned as I thought how the wasp in that tree payed dearly, not only was the nest gone, the whole tree was gone. But I quickly lost that grin when I realized that we all payed dearly, and a lot of us would never be the same again"."

--James (Jimmy) Walker

"I was 9 years old when Celia hit Corpus Christi. My father was a Ham radio operator and had left earlier in the day to help with traffic by positioning himself at Sponn Hospital on the 3rd floor. He told us later (when he finally was able to come back home) that he was able to view the bayfront and that all the water had disappeared as far as he could see.

My mother and I had watched the TV stations disappear also along with the electricity. Our home was located across from Ray high school with Staples Street between. My mother yelled at me to stay away from the window (which was difficult to hear her due to the pressure drop) but my curiosity gave out and I watched our neighbor's large Spanish oak pull out of the ground and "dance" down Texan Trail Street like a scene out of The Wizard Of Oz! Mother finally told me to sit in the bathtub thinking that to be the safest place. My brother who was 17 at the time while visiting friends across town said his buddy's dad ripped the interior doors off the hinges and nailed them to the outside windows. The next day my dad had the family rummage through the neighborhood looking for shake shingle to fix the portion of the roof that has vanished. Interestingly two brick houses on our street had "disappeared. "

One was two houses down the other 6 houses down; only the slabs were left. My dad was a piano player. His performance the night before Celia arrived was across the main bridge. Two days later, he went back to check the status of his gig and the only thing left of the hotel where he played was the keys of the grand piano he had played.

Side note: The Petroleum Club, located atop the Petroleum Tower, had its grand piano fly out the top window to crash to the ground. We actually had fun during the power outage--we "camped" at home and had enough canned foods to tide us over. Kerosene was a new thing to us baby boomers but to my dad it had been an everyday thing growing up in Ohio. In January we moved across town (closer to the bayfront), purchasing a home from a family that didn't ever want to deal with another hurricane. We also left the coast in late 1972 to South Central Texas."

--Pete Sengler

"I was 8 and I was with my grandfather in his new home. When my mother heard that celia was coming she thought that her father's house would be safer. When we were driving there I could hear the wind like something was going push our car over. It was raining but not as hard as what we were going to see in a couple of hours. When we got there It rained much harder. We rushed into his house. A couple hours arter we settled in our car got blowned away. 5 minutes after that 2 of the windows broke. The next door's neighbors house's roof blew off. 20 minutes later the storm was gone and people were walking into the street. Some were crying others were terrified of what they just been through. "

--kasy

"I was only 2 years old and my older sister was 8 when this storm hit our area. Me, my mother and older sister, along with other family members lived in the projects on Sam Rankin, just as you exit the Harbor Bridge leaving Gregory Portland. We were all evacuated out and taken to the basement at the Police Station on Martin Luther King/Brownlee.

I remember we lost our screen door, the roof of the projets were flying through the air. I remember alot of rain and peanut butter sandwiches floating in the water. My mom had 2 children and my auntie had her 4 children. This was a big storm for Corpus Christi."

--BARBIE from CC TX

"Cotulla, Texas: I was 10 years old and I remember Celia like it was yesterday. We were some 70 miles inland and the eye passed right over the Haak Ranch, about 3 miles N. of Cotulla, TX. It was during the night that she passed over. It’s funny now to think that we lay in our beds as the winds screamed and howled. The old ranch house moaned and strained as the wind blew one way then the next as the eye passed right over the ranch house. The blow seemed to last all night while my giant feather bed gave me all the security it could give, the sound penetrated the thick quilt and pillows as I laid there in it. I trusted my Grandpa when he said it will be over soon and the house will hold up. He was right (but I’m sure he was just hoping it was so, and lucky to boot). He was a great big German man who was a builder and rancher. In my eyes, if he said it, it was true. Still that wind was unmerciful. The rifles and shotguns on the gun racks were as useless now as the fishing poles that leaned in the corner of my makeshift room on the back porch of the house. My Grandpas’ word and that bed was all I had.

Sometime during the night I fell asleep only to awaken to my Grandpa tugging on my big toe as he often did to wake me up. “Let’s go count the cows!” After a full breakfast prepared by my grandmother, we went outside where we were greeted by two of our Mexican ranch workers who spent the night holding onto a Mesquite tree after their lean too shelter was blown away. They had big grins on their face as they finished their breakfast around the little fire they made to dry their clothing and cook their food. Our horses, Windy and Tennessee, met us at the back gate that morning; they seemed to stay close to us all day. Those horses never stayed close before.

Grandpa and I fired up the old CJ-3a Willys Jeep and headed out to count the cows. The old Jeep chugged along in 4 wheel drive, sliding around in the red sand and silt that is indicative of the region. There was water everywhere. Faded red paint revealed the origin of corrugated tin roofing from a feed store in Pearsall TX about 30 miles north of the ranch. The stock tanks were overflowing and the grass was broken and laying in every direction. More interesting than anything, were the frogs and crawfish everywhere and to this day I cannot figure out where they came from. None of our buildings were destroyed except for the lean too. And all the cows were accounted for.

We spent the day fixing better accommodations for our workers and piling up brush and trash created by the storm. All the while I was thankful that no-one was killed or hurt. Although I did not express it, I wondered to myself what it must have been like for those two “wets” that spent the night outside. To this day I will not forget the smile on their faces that morning. It was a smile that said “I almost died last night, but I did not, and for that I am happy. ” "

--Jim