Deadly flooding in Texas

AccuWeather

AccuWeather's Jonathan Porter discusses what led up to the deadly flooding in Texas and what is yet to come.

Transcript

00:00We continue to follow really two big weather stories this weekend.

00:03We have Tropical Storm Chantal, but we also have the Texas flooding.

00:07And Chantal continues to produce some severe weather with the form of winds,

00:11rough seas, as well as a current tornado warning, which we'll get to in a moment.

00:15We want to begin with the deadly flooding in Texas, though.

00:18Major search and rescue efforts are underway along the Guadalupe River

00:21as dozens remain missing after Friday's catastrophic flooding.

00:25Now, sadly, the death toll continues to grow with at least 50 deaths now being reported

00:29this does include 14 children.

00:31The Guadalupe River rose 30 feet in just a matter of hours, engulfing homes, camps, and roads.

00:37So for a closer look at what happened, we're joined now by AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist John Porter.

00:42And John, first, I want to talk about the warnings that were issued and when they were issued.

00:48Well, good morning.

00:49First of all, I just want to say this is a heartbreaking tragedy,

00:53and our thoughts are with all of the people and families that have been affected by this tremendous tragedy.

00:59And right now, the focus is obviously on saving as many lives as possible.

01:04And for people in the hardest-hit areas to be aware of the risk for additional flooding,

01:08there'll be more heavy rain there today.

01:10But backing up to what led up to this event,

01:13there were flash flood warnings issued for these areas with ample notice

01:19so that life safety measures could be undertaken.

01:23AccuWeather issued the first flash flood warnings in that area around 1244 Central Time.

01:31The National Weather Service then issued a flash flood warning in that area at 114 Central Time.

01:38And, of course, the peak of the flooding looks like it occurred between 4 and 430 Central Time,

01:43for example, in the Hunt area near some of those camps.

01:46So there had been several hours of advance notice.

01:49The warnings were there in order for people to know that there was an imminent risk to safety in those areas.

01:55Whenever flash flood warnings are issued, regardless of the amount of rainfall that has fallen or what's forecast,

02:00that's the time to take action.

02:02And, John, like you mentioned, of course, right now the focus is saving lives, those search and rescue operations.

02:07But in the days to weeks to come, I think a lot of people are going to have questions for officials,

02:11for those who own and run the camp.

02:15With your expert insight, I mean, what do you think some of those questions will and should be?

02:19Well, that's a great point.

02:21A full investigation is going to be required.

02:23But there are a couple of things that are very concerning that need to be looked into,

02:27which is given those warnings that were in place, as I mentioned,

02:30hours before the most serious flash flooding occurred in those areas,

02:34what was the action plan that each of the camps or RV parks or other locations

02:41where large numbers of people assembled there along the Guadalupe River

02:45and in other areas there in Kerr County,

02:47what were the action plans that those facilities had in terms of their weather risk mitigation plan

02:52for receiving the best flash flood warnings and then activating plans to bring people to safe shelter?

02:59And, of course, there has to be somebody who's in charge of constantly monitoring for severe weather,

03:0424 by 7, just like they would physical security, multiple ways of getting warnings here at AccuWeather.

03:10Of course, we work with half the Fortune 500s and thousands of other businesses

03:13to help keep people safer and best protected.

03:16And it's very important to have multiple redundancies in order to be able to get those warnings.

03:21We send our warnings to our customers in a variety of different ways,

03:24SMS text, specialized mobile application,

03:27and we even have, with many of our customers, backups so that we'll call customers

03:31in case we don't have a confirmation that they've received a warning.

03:34So there are many questions that need to be asked in terms of what was the action plans

03:39that were in place in terms of dealing with flash flooding

03:42and then what steps were taken when those warnings with ample time were received

03:46in order to mitigate the risk for injuries and fatalities.

03:50And those are the questions that are going to need to be asked in the coming weeks.

03:53Now, let's give this a little bit more context.

03:56I want to show our viewers a map of where we saw the heaviest rainfall.

04:00It's the area in red there.

04:02And, John, this was several inches of rain falling very quickly.

04:07It was.

04:07And this is also important to point out.

04:09It kind of goes back to my earlier comments about the context of flooding

04:13in this part of the state of Texas.

04:15This is perhaps the most flash flood vulnerable part of the country

04:20because of the fact that you have complex terrain, lots of hills and valleys

04:24that that water can pour into, and oftentimes access to gulf moisture

04:29or moisture from the eastern Pacific.

04:31Slow-moving storms, that's what happened in this particular case.

04:34And the Guadalupe River went from probably just a typical lazy river,

04:38a little bit of slow motion, to a wall of water with height rises of 30 feet

04:45of fast-moving water in less than an hour.

04:48And there's nothing worse than fast-moving water.

04:51It will destroy everything in its path.

04:54And that's what led to this tragic outcome in terms of just water

04:59that came way too fast down that river, which has happened many times before

05:05across the hill country of south-central Texas, including the Wimberley area flash flood

05:12that happened back in 2015 where there was another wall of water,

05:15again another situation where water rose 30 feet in the matter of an hour,

05:19and along the Guadalupe River in 1987, another catastrophic flash flood.

05:24So this area of Texas is known for these types of dangerous flash floods,

05:28which is even more reason that all flash flood warnings need to be taken seriously,

05:34and you have to assume that a very serious situation,

05:37a life-threatening situation is going to evolve.

05:39Well, that's why immediate flash flood warnings are issued to indicate that immediate risk to life and property.

05:46Yeah, I mean, there were flash flood emergencies issued as well, an even higher level of alert.

05:50But I'm sure a lot of people are sitting here thinking, how did this happen?

05:54And we do have a graphic that kind of shows the weather pattern

05:56that really is a big reason why we had this situation.

05:59Well, it's the classic setup across this part of the country with slow-moving thunderstorms

06:05that produced two to four inches of rainfall per hour.

06:09They were parked over the same areas,

06:12access to near-record levels of atmospheric moisture flowing in from the south.

06:17That's a recipe for trouble,

06:19and that's a recipe for this very serious flash flooding,

06:22and that's what's occurred here.

06:24And of course, I want to give another reminder that you said it.

06:27Take all flash flood warnings seriously,

06:30and just assume that it is a life-threatening situation.

06:33Yeah, that's extremely important.

06:35That's why the warnings are issued,

06:37in order to be able to provide that notification

06:39and that advance notice that that's the time to act,

06:43to seek higher ground.

06:44And especially if you're in an area along a river or a creek or a stream,

06:51those are the types of situations where water can rapidly rise

06:55and a life-threatening emergency can quickly happen.

06:58It was very scary and concerning to hear some campers from camps along in that area

07:03indicating that they were awoken not by somebody telling them

07:07that there was a warning and they needed to evacuate,

07:09but rather they were awoken by water rising up to the second level of cabins.

07:15The question is, why did that happen with advance warnings,

07:20advance flash flood warnings indicating that immediate risk to life and safety?

07:23And that's the question that's going to have to be answered here in the coming weeks.

07:28AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist John Porter, thanks so much for joining us.

Category

Transcript

Recommended