Tropical Storm Allison was a tropical storm that devastated southeast Texas in June of the 2001 Atlantic hurricane season. The first storm of the season, Allison lasted unusually long for a June storm, remaining tropical or subtropical for 15 days. The storm developed from a tropical wave in the northern Gulf of Mexico on June 4, and struck the northern Texas coast shortly thereafter. It drifted northward through the state, then turned back to the south and re-entered the Gulf of Mexico. The storm continued to the east-northeast, making landfall on Louisiana and then moving across the southeast United States and Mid-Atlantic. Allison was the first storm since Tropical Storm Frances in 1998 to strike the upper Texas coastline. The storm dropped heavy rainfall along its path, peaking at over 40 inches (1000 mm) in Texas. The worst of the flooding occurred in Houston, where most of Allison's damage occurred. There, 30,000 became homeless after the flooding destroyed 2,744 homes.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1843: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, a novella about Ebenezer Scrooge, was first published. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol)

1916: World War I: The Battle of Verdun on the Western Front ended as the French drove the Germans back to their starting positions. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Verdun)

1972: NASA astronauts Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt aboard Apollo 17 returned to Earth. No human has visited the Moon since. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_17)

1974: The Altair 8800, widely recognized as the spark that led to the personal computer revolution of the next few years, went on sale. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altair_8800)

1984: The People's Republic of China and the United Kingdom signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, agreeing to the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong to China on July 1 1997. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-British_Joint_Declaration)

_____________________ Wiktionary's Word of the day:

nebulously: (idiomatic) Vaguely, without clear purpose or specific intention. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nebulously)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

In such an ugly time the true protest is beauty. -- Phil Ochs (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Phil_Ochs)