October 1994 Texas Flood

[Ptarmigan]

East Pacific Hurricane Rosa makes landfall on the west coast of Mexico on October 14, 1994 as a Category 2 hurricane with 100 mph winds. Then it moves over the mountains and weakens. However, its moisture remains and heads towards Texas. A strong cold front over Texas and high pressure system over Canada cause the remnant of Hurricane Rosa to stall over Texas. Rain starts to fall on October 15th. Many areas got 1 to 2 inches of rain. Then it rains again on the 16th when all the storms formed along a warm front. Later that night and well into the early morning hours of the 17th, heavy rain begins to fall northwest of Houston. 10 to 20 inches of rain fell. The the rain switches southward on the night of the 17th to wee hours of the 18th, heavy rain starts to fall around Houston. 10 to 20 inches of rain fell. Most of the heavy rain fell at night, which would make it a tropical rain event.

Rainfall rates up to 5 inches was reported during the storm. Once the storm ended, up to 40 inches of rain fell, mostly around Liberty and Magnolia. Many areas got over 20 inches of rains in the four day period. It is one Texas's largest rainfall event. There was widespread and record flooding. Many rivers and reservoirs exceeded their past records and stands to this day. On October 20th, oil pipelines burst and caused a massive fires on the San Jacinto River. It claimed 22 lives and caused two billion dollars in damages.

It is very possible that up to 37 inches of rain fell in 6 hours around Kickapoo Creek! This is despite the fact that 25 inches fell in 6 hours! It also talks about if the 62 inches of rain from Hurricane Wilma fell on Southeast Texas. It would be MUCH worse than Ike and the October 1994 flood. The damage and death toll would be catastrophic!


NWS Houston-October
Catastrophic Rainfall and Flooding in Texas
USGS Fact Sheet
Weather Underground Blog-The Flood of October 1994 Revisited

[kayci]

My folks live on Kickapoo Creek.