Hurricane Allen - Jamaica & Texas - August 6-10, 1980

Hurricane Allen is one of the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. Allen reached Category Five intensity three times during it’s life-cycle, first in the Eastern Caribbean, then in the Yucatan Channel where a minimum pressure of 899mb () was recorded, and finally in the western Gulf of Mexico. I was able to document huge surf along the north coast of Jamaica as Allen passed just north of the island on August 6th, 1980 and then again on August 10th as the hurricane made landfall near Brownsville, Texas as a Category Three with sustained winds of 120-125mph and a central pressure of 945mb ()