HOUSTON – Thirty years ago yesterday, Hurricane Alicia roared onto Galveston Beach with 115mph winds and a 10-foot surge, crossed downtown Houston and left a swath of almost $6 billion in damage and 21 people dead.
The facts and figures of Alicia are easy to Google, but what we should always take away are two important lessons from Alicia. First, the 1983 hurricane season only had a total of four tropical storms -- only four! And of those, three became hurricanes and only one became major -- Alicia.
So while we are always interested in seasonal forecasts and just what the climate looks like in a particular hurricane season, we must always prepare for just one because Alicia taught us that's all it takes.
Second, Alicia formed on an old cold front south of New Orleans before heading this way. In just 30 hours, a little over one day, Alicia went from being nothing to becoming a Category 3 hurricane and moving ashore.
Obviously, there wasn't much time to prepare for a Cat 3 like that and therein lies the importance of always making a kit and having a plan. We can't undo Alicia or the damage and lives it destroyed, but we can learn from it and be smarter for the future.