Hurricane Hilda tornado outbreak


On October 3–4, 1964, Hurricane Hilda and its remnants generated a tornado outbreak over portions of the Southeastern United States. The outbreak, which yielded at least 12 confirmed tornadoes, killed 22 people and injured 175 others. Most of the casualties occurred as a result of the 1964 Larose tornado that devastated the northern outskirts of Larose, Louisiana, becoming the deadliest hurricane-generated tornado on record since 1900 and one of only two violent tornadoes recorded in the southern Gulf Coast region of Louisiana. The tornado was also one of only two F4s known to have been produced by a tropical cyclone, the other having occurred during Hurricane Carla on September 12, 1961.

Background

At 23:00 UTC on October 3, 1964, Hurricane Hilda made landfall at, near Calumet, Louisiana, with maximum sustained winds of and an estimated atmospheric pressure of. Although Hilda extensively damaged portions of Louisiana, most of its severest impacts, including the vast majority of fatalities, were related to hurricane-spawned tornadoes, along with inland flooding.