Hurricane Allen
| Category 5 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS) | |
Hurricane Allen in the Yucatán Channel at peak intensity on August 7
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| Formed | July 31, 1980 |
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| Dissipated | August 11, 1980 |
| Highest winds |
1-minute sustained: 190 mph (305 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | 899 mbar (hPa); 26.55 inHg |
| Fatalities | 269 total |
| Damage | $1.24 billion (1980 USD) |
| Areas affected | Windward Islands, Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Yucatán Peninsula, northern Mexico, southern Texas |
| Part of the 1980 Atlantic hurricane season | |
Hurricane Allen was a rare and extremely powerful Cape Verde-type hurricane which struck the Caribbean, eastern and northern Mexico then southern Texas. It was the first and strongest hurricane of the 1980 Atlantic hurricane season. The first named storm and first tropical cyclone of the 1980 Atlantic hurricane season, it was one of the strongest hurricanes in recorded history and one of the few hurricanes to reach Category 5 status on the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale on three separate occasions, and spent more time as a Category 5 than any other Atlantic hurricane. Allen is the only hurricane in the recorded history of the Atlantic basin to achieve sustained winds of 190 mph (305 km/h), thus making it the strongest Atlantic hurricane by wind speed. Until Hurricane Patricia in 2015, this was also the highest sustained winds in the entire Western Hemisphere.
Throughout its life, Allen moved through the deep tropics on a north-westerly course through the tropical Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico before making its final landfall near the United States–Mexico border. At peak strength, it passed near Haiti, causing hundreds of deaths and heavy damage. After crossing the Gulf of Mexico, Allen weakened as it struck the lower Texas coast, causing high winds, a significant storm surge, and heavy rainfall, which caused damage to southern Texas. Overall, Allen killed 290 people and left just over $1.24 billion in damages (1980 US dollars), or $4.00 billion in 2016 dollars; mostly within the United States and Haiti. Due to its impact, the name Allen was retired from the six-year revolving list of Atlantic tropical cyclone names in 1981 and the name was replaced by Andrew. The name Andrew was subsequently retired after the 1992 season's Hurricane Andrew. The dissipating storm precipitated the end of the heat wave of 1980 in places like Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, which had recorded 69 days of 100 °F (38 °C) heat.
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