Three months worth of rainfall created historic flooding for many Texans

Yesterday, central Texas was slammed by heavy rainfall resulting in multiple flash flood warnings and alerts. There’s no doubt that this was a record shattering event, blowing past previous records by multiple inches.

One area in eastern Dallas recorded over 15 inches of rainfall, more in one day than they’d seen the entire year up until this rainfall started. Dallas-Fort Worth Airport recorded over 9 inches, more than Dallas sees in a typical summer.

This type of event definitely doesn’t come around often - this is considered to be a one-in-one-thousand-year flood.

At times, Texans were able to see rain rates more than 3 inches per hour. This heavy rainfall event has pushed this month into being the 2nd wettest August on record, with the wettest August having been over a century ago.

Many people were forced to abandon their cars on roads with flood waters rising. At this time, 1 death has been reported along with hundreds of car crashes.

Eastern Dallas was hit the hardest as shown by radar estimated rain totals near and above 10 inches with some local reports showing rainfall greater than 15 inches. Many areas were able to see a half foot of rain, and even some of the spots that didn't get as much rainfall still got a lot.

With the rain falling as fast as it was, millions of Texans were placed under some form of a flash flood alert.

Although some rainfall is great for areas under drought conditions, too much rainfall in a short time can make a situation turn deadly fast.

Before all of this started, Dallas was in a severe rain deficit, more than 10 inches under where this should at this point in the year.

Throughout the entire summer, at least 90% of Texas has been under some form of drought with many experiencing D4 conditions or exceptional drought, the highest category on the drought monitor indicating devastating impacts. Some of these impacts would include heightened fire danger, widespread crop losses, and extreme water shortages.

Some rain is good for regions under drought, but excessive amounts of rain like what we’ve seen with this event can easily lead to flash flooding. This is because when the soil is too dry, it can’t absorb the water as fast as it would if it were wet, let alone with rain coming down as quickly as it was in Texas yesterday.

As this heavy rainfall moves its way out of Texas, it’s expected to impact Louisiana and Mississippi over the next 2 days with 6 inches of rainfall already forecasted to hit the region.