 Tropical Storm Allison near peak intensity on June 5 | |
| Meteorological history | |
|---|---|
| Formed | June 5, 2001 |
| Extratropical | June 17, 2001 |
| Dissipated | June 20, 2001 |
| Tropical storm | |
| 1-minute sustained (SSHWS/NWS) | |
| Highest winds | 60 mph (95 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | 1000 mbar (hPa); 29.53 inHg |
| Overall effects | |
| Fatalities | 55 total[a] |
| Damage | $9 billion (2001 USD) |
| Areas affected | Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, District of Columbia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, New England, Atlantic Canada |
| IBTrACS | |
Part of the 2001 Atlantic hurricane season | |
Tropical Storm Allison was a tropical cyclone that devastated southeast Texas in June of the 2001 Atlantic hurricane season. An arguable example of the "brown ocean effect", Allison lasted unusually long for a June storm, remaining tropical and subtropical for 16 days, most of which was when the storm was over land dumping torrential rainfall. The storm developed from a tropical wave in the northern Gulf of Mexico on June 4, 2001, and struck the upper Texas coast shortly thereafter. It drifted northward through the state, turned back to the south, and re-entered the Gulf of Mexico. The storm continued to the east-northeast, made landfall on Louisiana, then moved across the southeast United States and Mid-Atlantic. Allison was the first storm since Tropical Storm Frances in 1998 to strike the northern Texas coastline.[1]
The storm dropped heavy rainfall along its path, peaking at over 40 inches (1,000 mm) in Texas. The worst flooding occurred in Houston, where most of Allison's damage occurred: 30,000 became homeless after the storm flooded over 70,000 houses and destroyed 2,744 homes. Downtown Houston was inundated with flooding, causing severe damage to hospitals and businesses. Twenty-three people died in Texas. Along its entire path, Allison caused $9 billion (2001 USD, equivalent to $14.8 billion in 2023)[2] in damage and 41 deaths. Aside from Texas, the places worst hit were Louisiana and southeastern Pennsylvania.
Following the storm, President George W. Bush designated 75 counties along Allison's path as disaster areas, which enabled the citizens affected to apply for aid. Then the fourth-costliest Atlantic tropical cyclone and still the costliest Atlantic tropical cyclone that was never a major hurricane, Allison was the first Atlantic tropical storm to have its name retired without ever having reached hurricane strength, and the only until Tropical Storm Erika in 2015.
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- ^ John P. Ivey (2002). "Flood Safety and Tropical Storm Allison" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on May 3, 2006. Retrieved May 15, 2006.
- ^ Johnston, Louis; Williamson, Samuel H. (2023). "What Was the U.S. GDP Then?". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved November 30, 2023. United States Gross Domestic Product deflator figures follow the MeasuringWorth series.