‘Texan flood disaster saw everything come together in terrible way’ says meteorologist
Incredible amounts of moisture in the air fueled a storm that moved slowly and dumped rain over central Texas, creating conditions for fatal flash floods in the early morning hours when it was easy to catch people by surprise, meteorologists said.
More than 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain fell in the Texas Hill Country over a span of several hours early Friday, causing water levels to quickly rise, according to the weather forecasting company AccuWeather.
The area is naturally prone to flash flooding, but this was an especially bad storm that hit during the vulnerable overnight hours, experts said. Dozens of deaths have been reported along with numerous rescues.
“In a warming climate we know that the atmosphere has more moisture to give, to hold on to and then to release. But also the thing that we know about climate change is that our rain events are not as uniform as what they used to be,” said Shel Winkley, a meteorologist with Climate Central.
“So, you’ll get these big rain events happening in localized areas, tapping into the historic level of moisture in the atmosphere.”
Robert Henson, a meteorologist and writer with Yale Climate Connections, said this latest Texas rain storm was roughly a once-in-a-generation event. It fell in the Texas Hill Country where water quickly shoots down rugged hills into narrow river basins that swell quickly.
“As is often the case with the worst disasters, many things came together in a terrible way.” Mr Henson said.
