Hurricane Claudette hits the Texas coast

More than 200 miles of the Texas coast from Galveston south-west to Corpus Christi was put on alert yesterday when Hurricane Claudette arrived with wind speeds of more than 80mph.

Some residents left their homes and fled to higher ground inland from first officially classified hurricane of the Atlantic season, which runs from the beginning of June to the end of November.

Others obeyed the advice of the local police and stayed indoors.

At Galveston waves crashed over the 5.2-metre seawall and roofs were blown from some seafront houses and traffic lights were toppled over.

About 10cm of rain fell at Houston, 45 miles inland.

Despite police warnings, some sightseers headed to the eye of the storm for the excitement, driving through lashing rain to wherever television news cameras had been set up.

The centre of the storm was about 50 miles east of Port O'Connor, a fishing village and resort, which has twice been wiped out by hurricanes in the past, in 1919 and again in 1961.

Hundreds of workers were evacuated from offshore drilling and production platforms and production of oil and gas was halted as the hurricane approached.

Beaches were closed on the advice of the police when it became clear that it was going to be a powerful one.

The last hurricane to strike Texas was in 1999, when Bret reached the largely unpopulated stretch between Corpus Christi and Brownsville, to the south.

A storm becomes a hurricane when the wind exceeds 74mph.