COLLAPSE OF TEXAS TOWER NO. 4 PHT 
About a month later, on September 12, 1960, Hurricane Donna 
passed through the area. The actual maximum wind velocities and 
wave heights experienced at tower No. 4 from the effects of Hurricane 
Donna have not been clearly substantiated, other than admittedly 
having exceeded the original design criteria of 125 miles per hour for 
wind velocity and 35-foot breaking wave height. Some sources claim 
winds of 132 miles per hour and breaking waves of at least 50 feet 
in height. Others claim winds of 115 miles per hour velocity and 
breaking waves of 65 feet in height, while others claim waves of 75 
feet in height, the latter purportedly being a measurement above mean 
sea level and not from trough to crest. Light structural steel for the 
exhaust vents, 8 feet above the base of the platform which was 66.5 
feet above mean sea level, was dented from wave action. Shown 
below is a photograph of wave action against the above-water X-brac- 
ing taken at some time during Hurricane Donna. 
Wave action against above-water X-bracing. 
