Flash floods in Texas, Oklahoma kill 2, leave hundreds homeless

Record rainfall wreaked havoc across Texas and the Midwest on Sunday, causing flash floods in normally dry riverbeds, spawning tornadoes and forcing at least 2,000 people to flee. A firefighter in Oklahoma was swept to his death while trying to rescue 10 people in high water. And the body of a man was recovered from a flooded area along the Blanco River, which rose 26 feet in just an hour and left piles of wreckage 20 feet high, authorities in Texas said. Rivers rose so fast that whole communities woke up Sunday surrounded by water. Rescuers used pontoon boats and a helicopter to pull people out.

We do have whole streets with maybe one or two houses left on them and the rest are just slabs.

Kharley Smith

So far this year, Oklahoma City has recorded 27.37 inches of rain. Last year the state’s capital got only 4.29 inches. The reasons include a prolonged warming of Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures, which generally results in cooler air, coupled with an active southern jet stream and plentiful moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, said Meteorologist Forrest Mitchell at National Weather Service office in Norman, Oklahoma. Authorities also warned people to honour a night-time curfew and stay away from damaged areas, since more rain was on the way, threatening more floods with the ground saturated and waterways overflowing.

It looks like the rainfall that we’re getting now may actually officially end the drought (that has gripped the southern Plains states for years).

Meteorologist Forrest Mitchell

Americas texas floods