 Felice moved nearly parallel to the southern coast of Louisiana as it began to show signs of improved structure . It reached its peak intensity as a high @-@ end tropical storm with winds of 70 mph ( 110 km / h ) at 0000 UTC on September 16 , while located about 100 mi south of Lafayette . Dry continental air from the north likely prevented Felice from reaching Category 1 hurricane strength . Even as a strong tropical storm , Felice lacked deep convection typical of mature tropical cyclones . Shortly after peaking , Felice moved ashore at High Island , Texas — about 30 mi ( 48 km ) to the northeast of Galveston — during the evening hours of September 15 local time . The storm rapidly deteriorated once over land and slowed in forward speed . Curving toward the northwest , Felice passed near Houston and weakened into a tropical depression . The diminishing system turned northward through north @-@ central Texas late on September 16 and entered southeastern Oklahoma by September 17 . 
