Source: Interstate 10 east is blocked by floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017, in Houston. (Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
The Worst Hurricanes in Texas History
Texas has endured some of the most destructive hurricanes in U.S. history, with storms that have wiped out communities, caused catastrophic flooding and left damage totaling billions of dollars.
Some, like the 1900 Galveston Hurricane, are remembered for their staggering loss of life. Others, including Harvey, Ike and Carla, reshaped entire regions of the Texas coast.
Looking at fatalities, damage and the overall impact each storm had on the Lone Star State, here are some of the worst hurricanes to affect Texas throughout its history.
25. Hurricane Claudette – July 8-17, 2003
Strength: Category 1 Fatalities: 3 Damage: $328.6 million (2026 USD) About: Claudette made landfall on the middle Texas coast as a Category 1 hurricane. The storm caused widespread coastal damage and major beach erosion, while an F1 tornado damaged several buildings in Palacios. The National Weather Service attributes two deaths in the region to falling trees or tree limbs.
24. Hurricane Allen – Aug. 1-11, 1980
Strength: Category 5 Fatalities: 281 Damage: $6.36 billion (2026 USD) About: Allen reached Category 5 strength three times during its lifetime, but weakened to a Category 3 before making landfall on South Padre Island near Brownsville with 115 mph winds. The National Weather Service records two direct Texas deaths from drownings in the Corpus Christi area. Allen also produced a major tornado outbreak across the state.
23. 1916 Texas Hurricane – Aug. 12-20, 1916
Strength: Category 4 Fatalities: 37 Damage: $361.5 million (2026 USD) About: The hurricane struck the South Texas coast near Baffin Bay as a Category 4. Despite the storm’s intensity, Corpus Christi escaped the worst of its effects compared with later hurricanes. Twenty people were killed in Texas, while Corpus Christi suffered more than $1.5 million in damage at the time.
22. Hurricane Alice – June 24-26, 1954
Strength: Category 2 Fatalities: 55-153 Damage: $24.8 million (2026 USD) About: Alice did not make a conventional hurricane landfall on the Texas coast, but its remnants produced historic flooding along the Rio Grande. At least 15 people were killed in Ozona, Eagle Pass flooded under more than eight feet of water and the Rio Grande reached a record crest at Laredo.
21. 1943 Surprise Hurricane – July 25-29, 1943
Strength: Category 2 Fatalities: 19 Damage: $328.2 million (2026 USD) About: The Surprise Hurricane struck the upper Texas coast as a Category 2 during World War II, when weather information was restricted under wartime censorship. The storm killed 19 people, injured hundreds and caused significant damage across the Houston-Galveston region. Hurricane advisories were no longer subjected to the same wartime censorship following the disaster.
20. Hurricane Madeline – Oct. 16-20, 1998
Strength: Category 1 Fatalities: 31 Damage: $1.54 billion (2026 USD) About: Madeline did not strike Texas as a hurricane. Moisture from its weakened remnants combined with moisture from Hurricane Lester and other atmospheric conditions to help produce the catastrophic October 1998 floods across Central and South Central Texas. The broader flood event killed 31 Texans, destroyed nearly 3,000 homes and displaced about 10,000 people.
19. 1909 Velasco Hurricane – July 13-22, 1909
Strength: Category 3 Fatalities: 41 Damage: $73.4 million (2026 USD) About: The hurricane made landfall about 45 miles southwest of Galveston as a Category 3. It damaged roughly half of Velasco, produced storm surge reaching about 10 feet in some locations and killed 41 people in Texas. The hurricane also provided the newly constructed Galveston seawall with its first major test.
18. 1932 Freeport Hurricane – Aug. 12-15, 1932
Strength: Category 4 Fatalities: 40 Damage: $182.8 million (2026 USD) About: The compact but powerful hurricane struck between Freeport and Galveston as a Category 4, making it one of the strongest hurricanes to hit Texas. Approximately 600 families were left homeless, 200 people were injured and 40 were killed as the storm devastated portions of the upper Texas coast.
Strength: Category 5 Fatalities: 179 Damage: $717 million (2026 USD) About: he hurricane reached Category 5 strength earlier in its life, but struck South Texas as a Category 3. The storm devastated portions of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, killing 40 people and injuring about 500. Much of the region’s citrus crop was also destroyed, while a 13-foot storm surge inundated coastal Cameron County.
16. Hurricane Beulah – Sept. 5-22, 1967
Strength: Category 5 Fatalities: 59 Damage: $2.35 billion (2026 USD) About: Beulah peaked as a Category 5 south-southeast of Brownsville but made landfall near the Rio Grande as a Category 3. The hurricane killed 15 people in Texas, dumped 15 to 25 inches of rain across much of South Texas and spawned an estimated 115 tornadoes, producing widespread flooding that lingered for weeks.
15. Hurricane Celia – July 31 – Aug. 5, 1970
Strength: Category 4 Fatalities: 28 Damage: $8 billion (2026 USD) About: Celia rapidly intensified before slamming into the Coastal Bend near Aransas Pass as a Category 4 with 140 mph winds. Fifteen people were killed in South Texas and 466 were injured. About 9,000 homes were destroyed, and Celia became the costliest hurricane in Texas history at the time.
14. Hurricane Alicia – Aug. 15-21, 1983
Strength: Category 3 Fatalities: 21 Damage: $10.06 billion (2026 USD) About: Alicia made landfall near San Luis Pass on the western end of Galveston Island as a Category 3 with 115 mph winds before moving directly through the Houston area. The hurricane caused extensive wind, surge and tornado damage, destroyed thousands of homes and became the costliest hurricane in Texas history at the time.
13. Hurricane Beryl – June 28 – July 11, 2024
Source: Houston Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images
Strength: Category 5 Fatalities: 73 Damage: $9.63 billion (2026 USD) About: Beryl became a Category 5 hurricane in the Caribbean, but weakened to a Category 1 before making landfall near Matagorda. Its path through the Houston area knocked out power to roughly 2.7 million homes and businesses. The National Weather Service reports 45 deaths in Texas, including 14 from heat-related hyperthermia following the storm.
12. November 1527 Hurricane
Strength: Unknown Fatalities: At least 162 Damage: Unknown About: Because the storm occurred centuries before modern weather observations, its strength and precise impacts cannot be determined with certainty. The National Hurricane Center’s historical compilation places a deadly tropical cyclone along the upper Texas coast in November 1527, with surviving estimates placing the death toll at 162, 191 or 200 people.
11. Hurricane Carla – Sept. 3-18, 1961
Strength: Category 4 Fatalities: 46 Damage: $5.25 billion (2026 USD) About: Carla made landfall along the middle Texas coast as a Category 4 and produced a storm surge reaching 22 feet in Matagorda Bay. The Texas State Historical Association records 34 deaths and 465 injuries in Texas. About 250,000 people evacuated the coast ahead of the hurricane, helping prevent a significantly larger death toll.
10. Texas-Louisiana Hurricane – Oct. 8-13, 1886
Strength: Category 3 Fatalities: 196 Damage: At least $8.9 million (2026 USD) About: The hurricane’s center made landfall in Louisiana as a Category 3, while NOAA estimates Category 2 hurricane winds affected extreme East Texas. Sabine Pass was devastated as flooding extended about 20 miles inland and nearly every house was moved from its foundation. The Texas Almanac reports 150 people drowned.
9. Hurricane Rita – Sept. 18-26, 2005
Strength: Category 5 Fatalities: 120 Damage: $31.63 billion (2026 USD) About: Rita peaked as a Category 5 over the Gulf but made landfall just east of Texas in southwest Louisiana as a Category 3; NOAA estimates Category 2 hurricane winds affected extreme Southeast Texas. The National Weather Service reports three direct deaths in Southeast Texas, while the massive evacuation resulted in at least 49 indirect fatalities.
8. 1875 Indianola Hurricane – Sept. 8-18, 1875
Strength: Category 3 Fatalities: 800 Damage: $121.9 million (2026 USD) About: The Category 3 hurricane devastated Indianola, then one of the most important coastal communities in Texas. Storm-driven water swept away roughly three-fourths of the town’s buildings and killed 176 people. Residents rebuilt Indianola after the disaster, only for another catastrophic hurricane to strike 11 years later.
7. 1886 Indianola Hurricane – Aug. 12-21, 1886
Strength: Category 4 Fatalities: 178 Damage: $114.4 million (2026 USD) About: Indianola was still recovering from the 1875 disaster when a Category 4 hurricane struck Matagorda Bay. A roughly 15-foot storm surge inundated the community, only two buildings were left standing and 46 people died. Indianola was never rebuilt following the devastating 1886 hurricane.
6. Hurricane Ike – Sept. 1-15, 2008
Source: Residents of the Justine Apartments stand near a pile of rotting food outside their front door in Galveston, Texas. The food was removed from a grocery store in the building after it was flooded by Hurricane Ike. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Strength: Category 4 Fatalities: 214 Damage: $58.94 billion (2026 USD) About: Ike reached Category 4 strength over the Atlantic but made landfall on Galveston Island as a Category 2. Its massive wind field pushed destructive storm surge into Galveston, the Bolivar Peninsula and Chambers County. The National Weather Service has reported at least 18 direct fatalities in Texas, along with dozens of additional indirect deaths.
5. Hurricane Two – Sept. 4-8, 1921
Strength: Category 1 Fatalities: 215 Damage: $354.5 million (2026 USD) About: The hurricane itself made landfall near Veracruz, Mexico, then weakened before its remnants reached Texas. The system unleashed catastrophic flooding across Central Texas, where 215 people drowned statewide, including 51 in San Antonio. Thrall recorded an incredible 39.7 inches of rain in 36 hours, producing the deadliest flood event in Texas history.
4. 1915 Galveston Hurricane – Aug. 5-23, 1915
Strength: Category 4 Fatalities: 403-405 Damage: $992 million (2026 USD) About: Fifteen years after the 1900 disaster, another Category 4 hurricane slammed into the Galveston area. The storm produced a surge of roughly 16 feet and killed 275 people, but the seawall constructed after the 1900 hurricane significantly reduced the devastation and loss of life in Galveston itself.
3. 1919 Florida Keys Hurricane – Sept. 2-16, 1919
Strength: Category 4 Fatalities: 772 Damage: $424.7 million (2026 USD) About: The hurricane reached Category 4 strength over the Gulf but weakened to Category 3 before making landfall on the Texas coast. A 16-foot storm surge devastated Corpus Christi, particularly North Beach. The official death toll associated with the Corpus Christi disaster is 284, although the National Weather Service believes the actual toll may have ranged from 600 to 1,000.
2. Hurricane Harvey – Aug. 17 – Sept. 2, 2017
Source: Mike Stamps, right, sits at the front of a boat with his cats, son-in-law, Chris Pitts, and Matt Jensen, with the East Tex Fire Department, as he left his flooded home, surrounded in 6-7 feet of floodwater in the Kingwood Greens Subdivision flooded from the San Jacinto River due to Tropical Storm Harvey, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017, in Kingwood. Stamps was there to retrieve his two cats, who had to be left behind, as he was evacuated on a jet ski Tuesday. (Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle)
Strength: Category 4 Fatalities: 107 Damage: $170.3 billion (2026 USD) About: Harvey made landfall near Rockport as a Category 4 before stalling over Texas and unleashing catastrophic flooding across Southeast Texas. Nederland recorded 60.58 inches of rain, setting a U.S. tropical cyclone rainfall record. Harvey caused at least 68 direct deaths in Texas, with nearly all resulting from freshwater flooding.
Strength: Category 4 Fatalities: 6,000-12,000 Damage: $1.37 billion (2026 USD) About: The Category 4 hurricane overwhelmed Galveston on Sept. 8, 1900, inundating the island and killing an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 people, with some estimates reaching 12,000. It remains the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history. The catastrophe ultimately led Galveston to construct its famous seawall and take extensive measures to protect the island from future hurricanes.
