“…rainfall at Austin Camp Mabry [National Weather Service’s official rain gauge in the city] through May 25th has totaled 16.72 inches, 13.11 inches above normal. This breaks the previous record May of 14.10 inches set in May 1895.”
—Meteorologist Bob Rose at the Lower Colorado River Authority.
Posted in Blogosphere, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather
Tagged Bob Rose, LCRA, Record-breaking May rain
We got our near-repeat of the 1981 Memorial Day flood. Haven’t seen any pictures of 1981’s many swept-away cars and pickups here (except the few in the pix at the top of this link), but North Lamar Boulevard looked like a river in one television shot. The usual culprit, Shoal Creek, was out of its banks at its southern end. It flooded the high school football field at House Park which became a pond for fire department Zodiacs.
The little resort town of Wimberley, southwest of Austin, got the worst of the flooding by far: 72 homes swept away by rising Cypress Creek and the Blanco River. Twelve Thirteen Nine Eight people, including small children, are still missing.
Rancho Roly Poly got off lucky, very lucky. The rancho, essentially, is at the bottom of a steep hill of houses and streets above us. So the rains of the past two weeks saturating the ground meant yesterday’s repeat of Saturday’s downpour, quickly turned into a downhill river of runoff. Mr. B. and I became the towel brigade, sopping up and pushing back water trying to invade the house.
Until I could get a diverting row of sand bags down in front of the glass doors to the family room. Our good French drain took most of the water around the south end of the rancho and into the street out front.
Mrs. Charm was away working the flood story at the daily, but gave good advice by phone. No rain on the radar this morning. Forecast calls for another storm this afternoon but then a possible end to the rains until the weekend.
UPDATE: If you want to help, my preferred charity is the Salvation Army. They don’t push religion and they have no high-paid administrators to consume your money. They just help by dispatching mobile feeding canteens to area shelters. You can donate online at http://www.salvationarmyaustin.org
MORE: WIMBERLEY, Texas (KXAN) — Search crews recovered the body Wednesday of a boy along the Blanco River in rural Hays County. The boy’s body was found near Water Park Road, but authorities have not yet identified the child.
Posted in Mr. Boy, Mrs. Charm, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather
Tagged House Park, Texas flood in Austin, Wimberley
A good chance of rain is forecast today and every day of this Memorial Day weekend. It’s normal for us to get a lot of rain around this time of year and, for those of us old enough to remember, to think of 1981. And this year we’ve already had more than a normal May’s worth of rain and the ground is saturated.
So it’s logical to expect something resembling the flood of 1981. It won’t take the 11 inches in three hours of that downpour to sent creeks and streams out of their banks this time. They’re already almost as high as their banks.
We’re definitely expecting a repeat of the Back Forty’s infamous waterfall. Pretty but worrisome as the water from it rises across the patio toward the sliding glass doors of the family room. Once again, they will be barricaded by unused floor tile and, this time, by a large framed photograph of a gas station (don’t ask, I don’t know why) my brother-in-law sent me years ago. Finally some use for it, freeing up space in the garage for something prettier.
UPDATE: We’re under a flash flood watch for the weekend.
MORE: If you want to help with the larger disaster around the Austin area, including Wimberley’s devastation in Hay’s County, my favorite charity is the Salvation Army which has no high-paid administrators and dispatches feeding canteens to shelters. They don’t push religion, they just help. You can donate online at http://www.salvationarmyaustin.org
Posted in Blogosphere, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather
Tagged 1981 Memorial Day flood, texas flood
That’s the forecast of meteorologist Bob Rose with the Lower Colorado River Authority.
“This long-term spell of wet weather is very unusual—even for the [normally wet] month of May. A good part of this wet pattern can be traced to the moderate El Niño that is in place [off the coast of Chile]. The El Niño looks to continue through the summer and the upcoming fall.”
The ground in much of Austin and environs is saturated, so with more rain expected this weekend and throughout next week, flooding could be just around the corner.
“I want to remind everyone to be very cautious around area creeks, streams and low water crossings,” Rose concludes. “All of these can rise very quickly as we get additional rains. If you encounter a flooded roadway or low water crossing, please remember not to cross any barricades and Turn Around, Don’t Drown.”
UPDATE: Mr. B.’s scout Troop 511 has canceled its weekend camping at El Rancho Cima, west of San Marcos: “The [Blanco] river has risen and is unsafe, and the ground is saturated and swamp like. All other Troops have canceled their camping plans this weekend.”
Posted in Blogosphere, South of the Border, Texana, Weather
Tagged Bob Rose, El Nino for Texas, LCRA
Three and a third inches by 11 p.m. for Austin’s official national weather station at Camp Mabry, according to KXAN meteorologists. It’s a record for May 5.
More than two dozen low-water crossings across Travis County are closed , including West 45th Street at Shoal Creek, due to high, rapidly-moving water which can sweep cars and trucks away before the occupants know it.
And there’s a chance of more rain each day through the weekend.
Via KXAN & KVUE.
Surveying the Back Forty and the roof this morning, we see that last night’s hail storm (video is someone elses, not ours) battered so many leaves from the rancho’s trees that they cover everything. At one point last night there was so much hail on the patio it looked like drifting snow.
The pea-sized hail lasted only about ten minutes in the midst of a downpour. Had it been longer or the hail bigger I suppose it would have been worse. Lakeway, out west on Lake Travis, seems to have gotten larger. How badly ours damaged the roof shingles remains to be seen. The last time they were replaced was in 2003 after a similar hail storm, but the ice was larger then as I recall.
Of course the power went out shortly after the hail stopped. The power always goes out in Austin when there’s a thunderstorm of any ferocity. It was out from about 9 to midnight. Calculate that inconvenience into your thinking if you’re planning to move here. And then, please, don’t.
UPDATE: Roof shingles look okay. The ones we can see. Need to get the copious amount of tree leaves blown off to be sure.
Killer tornadoes should start spinning up for their annual bout of destruction tomorrow, after an unusually pokey start of so-called “preliminary tornadoes”:
“This is the slowest start certainly since 2000. 2010 had a count of 65 through March.”
There were just 35 preliminary tornadoes in March this year.
Via Joe D’Aleo at WeatherBell.
Comments Off on Tornado time
Posted in Blogosphere, Texana, Weather
Tagged Joe D'Aleo, Tornado season
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