Texas Flash Floods

[Pullstart 66,576]

Doing a little check in here.  I’m reluctant to say I have very little knowledge of what happened, or what kind of storm system caused these floods.  I do know there are many parents and otherwise in mourning of their losses of so many children.

 

@oliver2-44 you’re nearby, no?  How are things in your area?

 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/maps-texas-flash-flooding-camp-mystic/

[squonk 43,710]

I heard on the radio that the storm was the remnants of a Tropical Storm Barry that entered Mexico and followed a mountain range into Texas. Very hard to predict track and rainfall amounts

[stevasaurus 23,274]

Our prayers with all involved !!  

[squonk 43,710]

Weather is so un-predictable. 

 

Perfect example was yesterday. It was hot and muggy. A cold front came thru in the afternoon as predicted. We had a lightning strike a couple of blocks from the house. Watched the line of storms pass thru on the radars. Nothing unexpected. Storms passed. Then all hell broke loose. First a bad accident down the road at 3:45. Multiple injuries. Then around 5 2 barns fully engulfed to the south of me. Every dept withing the 3 neighboring counties called. Fire fighters dropping from the heat. I'm listening to all of this on the scanner. Then I put the local news on at 6 from Syracuse. The weather comes on and he's showing that line of storms moving thru Syracuse and the south. Everything is clear where I am except in a flash at the end of the radar loop there is an orange/purple blob just to the west of me. He mentions that something is popping up. At 6:20 I hear the fire chief ask dispatch if there was any kind of Tornado warning. She says no but she will recheck. At 6:40 on FB I get pics and notifications of a possible Tornado about 10 miles west with roofs blown off houses. At 7:30 multiple reports of wires and trees down to the south. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[oliver2-44 10,679]

Thanks for thinking of me. We're fine, but flooding occurred in several areas about us.

It's amazing I only had 4-5" of rain, while 15 miles from me in 2 directions had 12"-18"  of rain.  Many of these 10-20" rain bombs fell in 3-4 hour time periods. 

July 4th morning  the Guadalupe River flooded above Kerrville, Camp Mystic, other camps, RV parks along river, tent campers, etc. The 20+ foot flood wave made its way down the Guadalupe river valley flooding several small river tourist towns.  It was caught in Canyon lake which was at roughly 40%.  A One day flow time.  At the same time this rain cell dumped 10 -18"  on the other side of the hills into the San Saba river valley.  This is thankfully a very rural area. While farms were damaged, no lives were lost there.  That water 125,000 cfs peak made its way down the San Saba River to the Texas Colorado River and then into lake Buchanan which was also about 45% capacity. That was a 2 day flow time  The Llano River water shed also had 10-15" of rain July 5th early morning in rural areas. its' 150,00cfs peak, 24 ft flood wave, made it way 12 hours to lake LBJ where I live. I worked with dams on most of these rivers.  One of the dams I used to work with ( Wirtz Dam) opened five  30x50  floodgates to pass this water over about 12 hours..  The next lake, Starcke dam opened all 10 floodgates to pass the water into lake Travis. The next early morning July 5th heavy rains 10"-20" fell in the Burnet, Leander, Liberty Hill area.  Several large creeks reached flows over 50,000 cfs then the gauges were washed out.  An important commuter bridge was washed out on FM1431 between Marble Falls and Austin.  The west end of this heavy rain was about 10-15 miles from us in the Marble Falls area.  Sadly the Marble Falls Volunteer Fire Department Chief was swept of the road on his way to a rescue and is missing.  His vehicle was found down stream and is demolished like it went through a car crusher.  He was a wonderful person and will be severely missed.  This rain fell in the creeks that flow to the Colorado river, Lake Travis and down the San Gabriel River through Georgetown to Granger lake. The flooding on these rivers covers about a 200 mile circle of the Texas Hill Country.  The Hill Country is very hilly, thin soils on limestone and granite rocks.  It is know as the most flash flood prone area in the US.  A sad plus of the flooding is that several storage lakes were very low and caught 10-20 foot of water.  All of theses storage lakes are usually feast or famine and refill with floods.  Thankfully most of those floods are not as sad occurring as this one.  Twenty miles to the SW of me the Pedernales River had a small rise also. Member @Chrishar lives in its area.  So over a 2-3 day period we had five Hill Country Rivers flooding. 

 

We've seen lots  of search helicopters coming from National Guard, Foot Hood, Coast Guard, private, etc. heading to these areas. Area churches and communities have set up shelters and collecting donations to cover immediate needs.  It we be a long cleanup and recovery for these areas.  

[squonk 43,710]

They just announce our tornado was an EF-2! 

[lynnmor 7,788]

4 hours ago, Pullstart said:

Doing a little check in here.  I’m reluctant to say I have very little knowledge of what happened, or what kind of storm system caused these floods.  I do know there are many parents and otherwise in mourning of their losses of so many children.

 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/maps-texas-flash-flooding-camp-mystic/

That is just about as tough as it gets, all those little girls taken away.  

[squonk 43,710]

Statement from the NWS. Guess I have to keep my eye on the sky from now on. 2nd year in a row I have been just a few miles from a tornado. 

 

[adsm08 3,136]

I was listening to an interview with Congressman Chip Roy, who's district includes Kerr County, and who has been helping coordinate with federal assistance efforts.

 

He said the two big things that went wrong here were a once-in-a-century weather event that saw water levels rising 26 feet in 45 minutes, and the whole thing happening at 4AM, when a lot of people missed the alerts to evac because they were sleeping.

[oliver2-44 10,679]

Major floods on the upper Texas Guadalupe River have occurred in several years, including 1932, 1936, 1952, 1972, 1973, 1978, 1987, 1991, 1997, and 1998. Notably, the 1987 and 1998 floods were particularly severe.  The recent July 2025 flooding has also been compared to the 1932 and 1987 events. 

[oliver2-44 10,679]

Latest update, 110 confirmed dead, 161 missing between the 5 flooded rivers.  

[clueless 3,222]

13 hours ago, adsm08 said:

I was listening to an interview with Congressman Chip Roy, who's district includes Kerr County, and who has been helping coordinate with federal assistance efforts.

 

He said the two big things that went wrong here were a once-in-a-century weather event that saw water levels rising 26 feet in 45 minutes, and the whole thing happening at 4AM, when a lot of people missed the alerts to evac because they were sleeping.

I'm love it when politicians are still refer to these weather disaster around the country as 100 year event, when the last one happened five to thirty five years a go . Then again politician use a different type of math than the rest of us, but at least their still praying for us 

[Pullstart 66,576]

10 hours ago, oliver2-44 said:

Latest update, 110 confirmed dead, 161 missing between the 5 flooded rivers.  

I don’t mean to add insult to injury.  Are the 161 missing additional to the 110 confirmed?  So sad 

[Handy Don 13,970]

2 hours ago, Pullstart said:

I don’t mean to add insult to injury.  Are the 161 missing additional to the 110 confirmed?  So sad 

Yes

[oliver2-44 10,679]

13 hours ago, Pullstart said:

I don’t mean to add insult to injury.  Are the 161 missing additional to the 110 confirmed?  So sad 

Sadly yes.