In around 1962, a hurricane that hit Corpus Christi washed a Spanish galleon onshore -- the opposite of what you are saying.
A 10 to 18 foot storm surge on such a flat area is something you would not want to comtemplate. Add to the 145+ MPH winds, and there may be people missing that there bodies are no longer on land (and I hope that I am wrong on this).
World War II saw Admiral Halsey get reprimanded by Admiral Nimitz for poor performance in a Hurricane. The argument was that since he lost several destroyers and he had a bunch of meterologists on his staff, he should have been able to save his ships.
I imagine there were over 500 sailors lost -- just because I think at least two destroyers sunk and some other ships had pretty bad damage.
I imagine that there will be some surprises washing up over the next few weeks.
Thanks for the Nimitz story. I thought he was smarter than that.