Saturday marked the anniversary of when Tropical Storm Allison was born inthe western Gulf of Mexico in 2001. Though Allison never became a hurricane,the storm left 41 people dead. Flooding triggered by Allison's heavy raincaused the majority of these deaths.The strength of Allison's maximum sustained winds never rose to 60 mph. Thestorm moved inland into southeastern Texas less than 24 hours after developing,then quickly weakened to a tropical depression.
The demise of Allison did not come over southeastern Texas. Allison made a loopover that area, then re-emerged over the western Gulf of Mexico during theevening of June 9th. Allison regained some strength over the warm waters of theGulf of Mexico, but it was deemed the storm was a subtropical system. Thatmeans Allison had both tropical and non-tropical characteristics.
Allison made a second landfall in southeastern Louisiana during the lateevening of June 10th. Allison would then spend the next few days trackingacross the South as a subtropical depression. From June 17th to 19th, Allisonwas finally pushed away from the Northeast coast.
Allison is infamous for the amount of rain it unleashed. Hardest hit weresoutheastern Texas and southeastern Louisiana, where rain totals were measuredby the feet. Nearly 36.99 inches of rain inundated Port of Houston, Texas. Thecity of Thibodaux topped the rainfall totals list in Louisiana with 29.86inches.
Story by AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski
