Have you ever had a flash flood watch that started on Monday and kept being extended each day until it wound up encompassing the entire week? Well, that’s where we are. In fact, Dallas County remains under a flood warning due to swollen creeks, lakes, and rivers that have long since overflowed their banks. Living at White Rock Lake as I do, I’ve seen this firsthand. White Rock Creek’s flood stage is 84 feet (26 meters). It crested at 91 feet (28 meters) just yesterday, and we had rain that lasted most of the night. Evacuations, street closures, deaths, and a litany of terrors and inconveniences abound.
And it’s not over yet. Our forecast predicts continuing heavy rain overnight tonight. After that, we have healthy chances for storms lasting right into the first part of next week.
Wouldn’t it be a shame if Independence Day is washed out by this monsoonal monstrosity?
We needed relief from the drought; what we didn’t need was to swing so far in the opposite direction that people are drowning, lakes are overflowing and flooding homes, and, as Wayne pointed out, floating fire ant colonies and uprooted snakes now pose a great danger, especially to those trying to reach safety or returning home after being forced out by the water. In addition, yes, and as the article points out, at least eleven people have died across the state in the last ten days alone due to these record-setting rains. And we’re not done with it yet.
To make matters worse, rescue crews and relief agencies are struggling to keep up with the constant problems. Entire neighborhoods are being flooded, street closures are more common than ever, people are not safe given the rapidly rising water that sweeps so many to their deaths, and sixteen straight days of rain—not mention all that has come before it—keeps adding to the problems. To wit:
The rain comes on top of ground already soaked by unusually heavy rainfall this year. Dallas and Oklahoma City, both of which average about 33 inches a year, have already recorded more than 30 inches, and NBC’s Jay Gray reported that some isolated areas of central Texas had recorded more rainfall just this month than they did in all of 2006.
It’s not been easy for those trying to help; in fact, the state has requested assistance from other states because we can’t keep up.
On Wednesday, the downpour and winds were so treacherous that helicopters were forced to halt efforts to rescue people from rooftops. Neighboring states were sending in relief crews, Gray reported from Dallas.
To make the point clear, there now exists a very real threat that Interstate 35 could be closed due to flooding.
We wanted relief from the drought. We got it.
