This one came at us quick. It became a tropical storm on August 15th and hit Houston/Galveston on the morning of the 18th. At landfall on the western tip of Galveston island, Hurricane Alicia had maximum sustained winds just over 111 mph (cat 3) and a peak wind gust of 125 measured on the eastern tip of the island near the Bolivar Ferry dock.
I wish I could show you a picture of my refrigerator door on August 17th, 1983. I had the tracking chart from the Houston Chronicle up there and had been eagerly waiting to track tropical storms and hurricanes. When your a kid without a care in the world, hurricanes are fun! By the morning of August 18th, it was not fun any more.
Home grown storms that pop up in the Gulf of Mexico can develop fast. Alicia spawned on the tail end of a cool front that made it out into the warm gulf waters south of New Orleans. Only three days to track and prepare... I remember, no one was prepared.
I had broken my leg a couple weeks before it hit. Alicia had the electricity out at my place for almost three weeks. After week one, my cast was so smelly that my brother DEMANDED to cut it off and throw it away. Our relationship was different after that!!!
I remember being up and looking out the back sliding glass door to the yard. It was just after sunrise in my subdivision of Ponderosa off FM 1960. The pine trees were bending almost to the ground as the eye wall passed nearby. I was scared. Dad seemed calm. Then, the back fence shook a little, rattled violently and 'poof' vanished into the wind. I too, was a little boy the night before Alicia hit.
I love hearing your Alicia stories. We're sharing them on my Twitter page.