Texas Hill Country is no stranger to flash floods. Why were so many caught off guard?
At least 90 people have died in central Texas in extraordinary floods, the deadliest in the Lone Star State since Hurricane Harvey killed 89 people.
A torrential downpour started off the July 4 weekend with several months’ worth of rain falling in a few hours, lifting water levels in the Guadalupe River as high as 22 feet. Among the dead are 27 children and counselors at a summer camp near Kerrville in Kerr County. One adult at the camp may have died trying to rescue children. More people are still missing, and more rain is in the forecast.
The storm arose from the fading remnants of Tropical Storm Barry, which formed on June 28. It was well ahead of schedule for the typical second named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which usually forms in mid-July. The weather system parked over Texas where it converged with a band of moisture moving north, forming thunderstorms that squeezed out a torrential downpour.
With its topography of hills and rivers as well as a history of sudden downpours, this region in Texas has been dubbed “flash flood alley.” Kerrville itself experienced a deadly flood in 1987 when the Guadalupe River received 11 inches of rain in less than five hours, raising water in some portions by 29 feet. The flood killed 10 people.
But there were several factors that converged to make this storm so deadly — and not all of them had to do with the sheer amount of rain. Here are some things to know about disasters like this:Texas isn’t in the tropics. How did it get hit so hard by a tropical storm?
Kerr County, population 54,000, is a couple hundred miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico, but it has a history of tropical storms and hurricanes passing through the region on occasion. So the leftovers from Tropical Storm Barry reaching the area isn’t too surprising. Scientists, however, are still trying to find out how storms that are powered by warm ocean water continue to get energy over land.
The recent flooding is occurring in an era where even “ordinary” storms are becoming more dangerous. Strong thunderstorms and tornadoes are a common sight in Texas summer skies and the state has a history of deadly floods. Over the years, the amount of rain falling from major storms has been increasing.
As average temperatures rise due to climate change, air can retain more moisture, which means when storms occur, there’s more water falling out of the sky, turning roads into rivers and submerging the landscape.
