Hurricane Celia 1970 - Corpus Christi 

Wow. Takes me back. I was almost 7 at the time. I lived on Mable Street, between Weber and Everhart. I remember it well. Hiding in the living room during the storm. Also my Dad cutting the mass of debris from the house with a chainsaw. We were also one of the few that had a Coleman stove. We helped with cooking food and boiling water for our neighbors. I guess now people would just sit back and wait for a FEMA trailer and the government to pamper their butts.

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.

I rode out this hurricane in a new two story home just off Padre Island Drive. I could feel the wall move as I sat in the floor of the hallway. Two by fours were sticking through the walls upstairs. My car sat in the street with water above the windows. It was quite an experience. One I'll never forget.

I was 5 years old when Celia hit Corpus Christi. My grandparents and I were visiting relatives out of state at the time. My grandparents delayed returning until after she was spent. We lived on Kaler Drive then.

I was 29, and lived there. Every report fails to mention winds up to 180 mph and 8 tornadoes inside the hurricane. Very dangerous, and every house on my block was destroyed except mine, which was damaged but not destroyed.

I was gonna turn 10 years old on the 18th of Aug, we buried our dad that day of the storm during the of the storm in Robstown at Memory Garden on CR 1889. Will never forget that day as the eye started to move through its started raining and thundering like the heavens were opening up to receive daddy, very scarily eerie.

We lived on Virgil Dr. in the general vicinity of most of this video. This was our first hurricane, I was 11 years old. I will never forget this storm. Thanks for posting.

thanks for sharing....I was 14. Remember the destruction. Video includes my home street where I grew up on Nile Dr.

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

I was only eight months old, and we had moved to Tennessee while my father was overseas. I do remember as a kid looking through the "yearbook" that was produced after the storm, with all the photos of damage around the city.

How well I remember her. Thank you for sharing this.

Thanks for sharing. I lived next to OSO Park and three months shy of my 11th birthday. The eye passed over us. It was calm and clear and we were surrounded by "stadium effect" clouds. The strangest part was that in the eye there were all types of strange colorful insects and some birds. I concluded at that time they got caught in the eye somewhere along the way. The Circle K store on Mcardle was the store us neighborhood kids use to buy our "goods" at after redeeming coke bottles. The owner and his wife were at the store and hid in the freezer. Their car was crushed by a fallen wall. After the storm we drove around and surveyed the damage. So much of the damage in your home movie we also saw. Woolco was completely demolished. I apologize for going on and on but this storm is forever imprinted in my memory. Something I don't understand is that this devastating hurricane hardly ever gets mentioned. I think for those of us that went through it we will never forget it.

Thanks for sharing video! We had lived in Corpus Christi only one year before Hurricane Celia hit. I remember, as a Red Cross volunteer afterwards, the only way to get a message sent to anyone across country to let them know we survived was via Ham radio operators. I give thanks for all blessings to this day, an unforgettable experience.

45 years ago! I bought the book "And Celia was her name" off of e-bay 3 yrs ago for under $15.00 in very good condition. I saw that amazon had one for $54.00 back in 2011. :-(

Thanks for sharing your story.

I lived though this when I was 6 years old. I remember green blades of grass blowing on all the cars facing towards the gulf. And we were in a little motel on the coast.

Lived through it, though our house was demolished around us. Barely escaped to back of the house before ceiling collapsed. We had a small tornado skip down our street, demolished the corner of our house-no walls, no rafters, nothing.

I too remember Hurricane Celia, this was Aug 3, 1970 my birthday. I was turning11 yrs old; I was in the Rio Grande Valley, I was spending my summer vacation at Alamo, Tx. My dad stayed at home guarding our home. Myself, my mom and three younger sisters were in the valley. Upon the aftermath we went back home and noticed so much destruction, I'm so thankful that my dad survived. Take care Corpus, my prayers are with you all. Lucio Sanchez Jr.

WHATABURGER- HATA URGE!! LOL Thanks for the Memories! I was 8, and my whole family, minus my dad, were living on Ocean Dr. a Block from Spahn Hospital! We were so luck to have survived! Later lived on Everheart, Topeka, Trey Way Ln. Thanks again~! Peace! Be Safe, and Blessed! Brother Nick

THANK YOU! I lived through many hurricanes, including Carla and Celia. Carla gets a lot of attention, but Celia was ten times more terrifying and damaging from my perspective. The Navy weatherstation half a mile from our house clocked the winds at 173mph. They said it was like a rake of tornadoes across the area, as is evident in your video. When the hurricane ended, the sun came out! We, too, drove around taking pictures. Never seen anything like it, before or since.

Thanks for the tips on the Pharaoh Valley streets! I have added addresses for all but a few of the houses.

Believe or not! I was 3 1/2 yrs old when celia hit. I remember her very well, the celing leaking and my parents had my siblings and I under a mattress. Something big crashed into the kitchen window and my dad and uncle went out to board it up really quick. the wind, noise and all is seared in my memory forever. We were getting ready for our move to California when Celia hit. Left a few weeks later, only to return to Texas, after a few big earthquakes hit in 1971-1974. Back in Ca. 25yrs now.

Yet somehow this horrible storm gets lost in history. People talk about Carla, Camille, Katrina, Sandy; but Celia is rarely mentioned.

We were on vacation from San Antonio to Corpus Christi to visit family. I remember watching palm trees go horizontal. They would go all the way down and back up again, over and over. Then the ocean water waved up and out of the sea past the concrete. My Dad went under an overpass to wait it out. The windshield wipers were on full blast. It was raining pretty hard. My Mom always loved storms, so we were kinda not scared. But we were at attention nonetheless. The station wagon held up, as did we...all seven of us. For some reason I always thought her name was Cecilia. But guess she was nicknamed Celia? The station wagon and the family all came out fine...all seven of us.

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!

Our large two story house was damaged bad. The roof ripped off. There was a 2x4 that the wind drove through the brick wall!

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

Great video! I'm sorry to see so much damage from Celia! I hope you and your family were ok. My mother's side of the family was from Corpus. My mother and Abraham Quintanilla were first-cousins... I love your videos and musical selections! Cheers - Luther

I was almost 4 years old and my baby sister was 2 weeks old. I remember hiding under the couch Dad turned upside-down, peeking out watching him board up the windows. I remember my destroyed swing set in the aftermath. I remember the Dairy Queen store had some damage. And the big frog that showed up on the back steps.

Thanks for the video, I've been for photos and video of Corpus Christi. Your the closes to my search. I've been looking for a photo or video of the old loop over highway at Crosstown@SPID. Still can't find it. Thanks for showing us this precious video.

thank u so much for posting this. i was born in 83 but ive always been so obsessed with seeing how corpus looked in the 70s and 80s. where did u get the pics in the vid?

I'm from San Antonio, but my family were visiting and left the day before. What I remember the most was how destroyed every thing remain the same for a long time afterwards

I was 16! Nothing major to our small framed home.. we had huge trees that protected our home.. only one was uprooted.. nevertheless, no power for 2 weeks.. so scary!

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.

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.

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.

Although Dr. Neil Frank, the head of the National Hurricane Center said there were no tornadoes associated with Celia I am calling him a DAMN LIAR. He was in Florida at the time. I did service work in Portland for weeks on end after the storm and talked to DOZENS of people who personally saw the twisters while Portland was in the eye of the storm. Also aerial views show areas of INTENSE damage, like sliced with a knife while adjacent areas were untouched. The house in which I rode out the storm was totally destroyed, only inner hall walls left standing. House across street, and in lines both fore and aft destroyed, with homes next door without loss of even shingles. There was a massive store just West of the mall there on Gollihar that was completely and totally obliterated. MASSIVE concrete walls flattened. I have ridden out several hurricanes. NONE anywhere close to the rage this one displayed. Not in all areas, but those areas I believe to have been hit with tornadoes. Other 100+ MPH winds never gave me much cause for pause. This SOB seemed alive, and mad. When the roof peeled off, I thought we were dead. Only that inner hall saved our lives. When people in Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi and Alabama talk about the ferocity of hurricanes, they're worth listening to and BELIEVING. Storm surge may in fact be the worst, but the winds can be and are deadly.

Thank you so much for sharing this. I'm showing my kids what might happen with this Harvey threat.

Great..I was 8 and in Robstown at the time for 2 years for Dad's work. I see my street in Corpus Christi off McArdle by the Circle K between the Shamrock. It is Rickey Drive.

My mom and dad went thru this travesty they hadn’t even met yet and me and my sister weren’t around yet either

OM Gosh, I live right behind doddrige plaza!

I was about to turn 11, we stayed at Zavala elementary. I really can't remember much. I think some of our trees were uprooted. Maybe some rain damage. Was blessed to have my dad and brother with us back then. They have passed away within the last 15 years. They were not around for Hurricane Harvey.

Wow! I was born six days after Hurricane Celia hit Corpus Christi, TX in 1970. I was born at Memorial Medical Center & from what I know the hospital was running on generator power since there was no electricity at all. Those of us born at that time were put in big size shoe boxes.

THANKS FOR POSTING THE WEBSITES TO THE CROSSTOWN/SPID ....I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE PHOTOS OF THE CROSSTOWN BRIDGE,,, IN 1983 I ALMOST DELIVERED MY BABY AT THE VERY TOP OF THE CURVE OF THE FREEWAY COMING FROM GIBSON SCHOOL FROM PICKING UP MY BOYS FROM SCHOOL ,,, I LISTENED TO MY HUSBAND ,,,HE SAID WE SHOULD PICK THE BOYS UP BEFORE I TAKE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL,,OR THEY ARE NOT GOING TO HAVE A RIDE.........YES .... LABOR PAIN RIGHT ON THE VERY TOP OF THE CURVE OF THE BRIDGE ... MADE IT TO OSTHEOPATHIC ( can't remember how to spell it ) HOSPITAL ON TARLTON ,,,,WHEN GETTING TO THE HOSPITAL ....MY DOCTOR ASKED ME WHY I EVEN BOTHERED TO SHOW UP ....THE NURSES TOOK ME STRAIGHT TO THE DELIVERY ROOM ... LONG STORY SHORT ,, A COUPLE OF MINUTES LATER I HAD A BEAUTIFUL GIRL !

I was 5 years old when Celia arrived. We stayed at my aunt's house..

Portland texas I was there

my mom lived there

My grandma said her whole neighborhood was destroyed which was around where the state school is. There was a dog tied to a fridge also Corpus hasn't experienced a hurricane this bad since then. The population,and city is much bigger so who knows what would happen.

I was 5 years old

My mom, her parents, and little sister lived in Ingleside, Texas when celia came in. My mom told me about this train that was laid over off the tracks and there were boats in the streets. Their house luckily survived with little damage. But i remember this video from the Museum of Corpus Christi. Its quite interesting yet scary the kinda force a category five storm, like celia, can be the powerful and destructive.

I remember Celia. It caused a lot of damage.

Another one hits Friday

Whos here in corpus 2018

WOW!!! I was 14 at the time, and I suppose quite isolated to the true destruction. Somehow, even 1 block off Ocean, near South Shores, we escaped almost unscathed. This may have been due to the fact that we had a fire in May, in the roof, and most of the roof had been rebuilt. I do remember my 6'3" Dad holding the front door ajar with all his might to take pressure off the front door decorative plate glass window to keep it intact. We had a few broken windows from the Rock Roof at Montclair Elementary. Otherwise, our power came back in 1.5 days, and we were the only ones that had a phone in a 2 block radius, go figure.. Many people used our phone to assure family that they were OK. TY For The Video.. Quite shocking. Not sure but my Geography Professor said the wind tracking stations blew down at 185 MPH, and gusts were well over 200MPH. Not sure, but I think this might have been around a cat 5 if they had been using that rating system back then.

the 13th-century religious woman who brought us Corpus Christi: She Received visions from Christ, who pointed out that there was no feast in honour of the Blessed Sacrament. Based on this, she promoted the additional of what became the feast of Corpus Christi. 😇st Juliana of Liege 🙏🏻4us

I lived through this one. I lived on Santa fe treet

I live here and born 2008

Gonna have the same damage or even worse if another hurricane ever hits the city again, esp. one of Celia's magnitude.

I would have liked to have viewed the warning weather bulletin that appeared on our television screens that indicated we were under a hurricane watch or warning in a black background with a white line drawing of a face blowing wind with curled "windy" hair 2 dot eyes & a pointed nose that was supposed to represent the hurricane or tropical storm about to hit. We would hear a man's voice stating facts gathered about the hurricane or tropical storm including estimated arrival time. We would also hear an alarm sound in the background. We don't have that anymore since the 1970's. I noticed some of the photos were taken from a magazine titled "And Celia Was Her Name" 3 1970 songs come to my mind relating to hurricane Celia. Mama Told Me Not To Come by 3 Dog Night, Green Eyed Lady by Sugarloaf & Mabellame by Tee Set & possibly to some extent, Montego Bay by Bobby Bloom.

I'm looking at this as for reffrence of what can happen to corpus when Harvey hits.....is it really gonna be this bad tho....

Was there was 8byears old and lost everything my dad was stationed at the naval base where we lived there to

at least that wahataburger was standing

I am writing a book on forgotton Hurricanes of our (not so distant past) I'm a CC resident, attending TAMU-CC so seeing such light coverage infuriates me. I have all data temps, pressures maps, etc's from that day. If you have any info you think I might not know, just pass it along. I also have an answer to your question. I will find it for ya Thanks

Wiener schnitzel at SPID and Carroll lane was repaired and is still there. 👍

I saw my street

I have a very large reel of 16mm footage which contains about an hour of stuff shot here in Corpus Christi during Celia. Anybody got a projector or a way to transfer it?

aye who had a camcorder back then?

@yakima1 - hello! My name is Kerrin and I work at WeatherNation TV. We'd love to feature some of your video on our broadcast as we look back at past hurricanes. Would you be willing to talk with us about this? We can connect via email- please write kjeromin@weathernationtv.com. Thank you in advance

Does anyone know if Celia was a hurricane ,category 3??

HATA URGE LOL. Wow, you have enough footage here to create your own documentary.