|
NOAA Magazine || NOAA Home Page STORM-TOSSED TEXANS FINALLY SEE A RAY OF SUNSHINE
While forecasters are keeping an eye on a weak tropical system in the Gulf, east of Brownsville—only scattered showers are expected across south central Texas through midweek. The rain and flooding developed as a low pressure system migrated westward from Florida and combined with a flow of deep tropical moisture from the western Gulf of Mexico and moved over southern Texas June 30th. While not unusual for the region (one of the most flood prone areas in the nation), the problems developed when the system hit a wall of high pressure and stalled over the central and south central portions of the state. For eight days, the storm system continued to draw moisture from the Gulf—triggering the massive, prolonged rain event. At least seven people have died in flood waters since June 30th, an estimated 48,000 homes sustained flood damage, nearly 250 high-water rescue calls were reported, more than 130 roads were closed, hundreds of flights were delayed and thousands of citizens lost power and telephone service. President Bush declared 13 Texas counties disaster areas, and Texas Governor Rick Perry has requested disaster declarations for 17 additional counties. While emergency managers have yet to assess a final dollar amount, the storm is being compared with floods in 1998, which caused $1.5 billion in damage in the same region. The damage from this week's storm may be as extensive, but the death toll is dramatically lower—60 people were killed in 1998. There were other differences as well. "We had the same kind of flooding in 1998, but in a much shorter time period," said Joe Arellano, meteorologist in charge of the NOAA National Weather Service forecast office in San Antonio. "While everyone rose to the occasion, the length of this event (eight days) definitely added to the stress level for the staff." For the first time since it filled in 1968, Canyon Lake (northeast of San Antonio) poured over its spillway adding to the flood swollen Guadalupe River. Emergency managers were also concerned about the 90-year-old dam at Medina Lake (west of San Antonio). Medina Lake also topped its spillway and, at one point, actually rose to within 18 inches of the top of the dam. "We've had 30-inch rainfalls before and we'll have them again," said Nezette Rydell, senior service hydrologist for the San Antonio office. "But the fact that we had two dams spilling over at the same time made this a unique event." Relevant Web Sites
|
