Tag Archives: Flooding

Six Missing in Mudslides Created by Tropical Storm Erika

Tropical Storm Erika has devastated the tiny island of Dominica, triggering landslides that have left at least six people missing and hundreds of people without homes.

The Antiqua Weather Service says the storm dumped 9 inches of rain onto the mountainous island late Wednesday and then 6 more inches on Thursday.

About 80 percent of the island is without electricity.  The country’s airport has been closed after flood waters covered cars and at least one small airplane.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) says that the storm is moving west with sustained winds of 50 m.p.h. and is expected to cover Puerto Rico Thursday.  The storm continues to be what forecasters call “poorly organized” and is not expected to strengthen over the next two days.

Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla said that while the storm could cut off power and water service, the storm would also bring much needed rain to the parched nation.

“We’re happy given the dry conditions, but it does highlight the need to be on alert,” he told CBS.

Forecasters say it is still too early to know whether or not the storm will reach Florida with any kind of tropical storm or hurricane strength.

Meanwhile in the Pacific, Tropical Storm Ignacio strengthened into a hurricane.  The storm is moving slowly westward, about 1,100 miles east-southeast of Hilo, Hawaii.

Oklahoma Toddler Swept Away In Storm Related Flood

An Oklahoma toddler was swept out of the arms of his father by flood waters near Ardmore.

“The man and his 2-year-old son were trying to leave Ardmore as a flash flood swept through Wednesday night, likely from the swollen Hickory Creek,” said Hamblin. “The father was unable to hold onto the boy and he was swept away.”

The Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management said that six inches of rain fell in the Ardmore area in 24 hours and that other parts of the state had more than 10 inches from the remnants of Tropical Depression Bill.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol shut down parts of Interstate 35 due to flood waters completely covering the highway.  States of emergency were declared in all 77 counties in the state.

Residents north of Dallas, Texas near Grapevile Lake are dealing with flooding even after the rain because of runoff causing rising lake levels.  The lake’s excess drains into Denton Creek and the flooding of that river will cause communities to be cut off because of impassable roads.

“We’ll take measures once we are 100% certain that it’s going there,” Chief Darrell Brown of the Grapevine Fire Department told CNN affiliate KDAF. “We believe it will be in the next 24 to 48 hours, so we are doing everything we can to ensure we give them ample notice to have a way out before we evacuate those apartments.”

The Trinity River is still above flood stage and officials are urging residents not to return to the area until the river returns to its banks.

Tropical Depression Bill Causes Flooding

Tropical Storm Bill weakened Wednesday to a tropical depression but is still bringing massive amounts of rain to south Texas.

“Rainfall will result in significant flooding across central and eastern Texas and into southern Oklahoma through Wednesday night,” AccuWeather meteorologist Chyna Glenn told USA Today.

However, Texas is not the only state bearing the brunt of Bill’s wrath.

Southern and eastern Oklahoma have reported more than a foot of rain including just over 13 inches reported at Newport, Oklahoma. Interstate 35 in southern Oklahoma was closed due to flooding and one exit had to be closed because the rain dislodged boulders which rolled into the roadway.

Multiple rivers including the Red River, Trinity River and Washita River are either at flood stage or are forecasted to be reaching flood stage by the weekend.  The National Weather Service said the flooding from the Washita River in Oklahoma could be “catastrophic.”

The storm is moving eastward into Missouri and Arkansas, bringing heavy rain and the possibility of flooding in those states.

Colorado Tornadoes Destroy Homes

A series of tornadoes swept through Colorado Thursday night destroying three homes and damaging over two dozen others.

Officials say there were no injuries reported in the outbreak.

One of the storms brought so much rain that it caused a sinkhole 15 feet deep that swallowed a police cruiser.  The officer inside at the time was able to escape without serious injury.

The homes were destroyed in Berthoud, about 40 miles north of Denver.

“It was probably on the ground two minutes,” Scott Oliver, who lives in northern Boulder County, told The Daily Camera newspaper. “It was just kicking up everything. It was terrible.”

“You just wouldn’t believe how many hailstones we had,” resident Dan Grabosky told NBC. “And the continuous roar of the lightning and thunder. It was just awful.”

“It was just a whirling mass,” he said. “It was coming for my home, and God stopped it.”

One forecaster with the Weather Channel reported he had received reports of hail the size of grapefruit.

The rain continued through the midwest bringing flooding to Kansas City.

More Texas Flooding; Death Toll Climbs

The Brazos River in Texas is continuing to swell, driving more families out of their homes with local officials saying that it might not crest until Friday at the earliest.

Parker County Judge Mark Riley ordered a community of RVs and trailers along the river to be evacuated after predictions the river could rise another nine feet before cresting.  Other low-lying neighborhoods in the areas around the river were also placed under mandatory evacuation.

The National Weather Service reports thunderstorms, hail and tornadoes are possible throughout the flooded regions on Thursday.  Meteorologist Steve Goss said the storms will be “intense and slow moving.”

The town of Wharton, around 8,000 residents, is being evacuated along the Colorado River due to fears of a massive rise over the banks.  Flood stage is 39 feet, with the river already at 36 feet.  Predictions of a 46 foot crest on Friday night would not only flood the homes along the river but also wash away a school.

Houston continues to be hammered by flooding.  Another victim of the flood, a 73-year-old woman, was identified Wednesday.  The San Jacinto River was three feet over flood stage and officials say that some subdivisions could be cut off for up to a week because of flood waters.

The death toll in the U.S. is now at 21 people.

The storms on Wednesday left three workers at a gas drilling rig in the Texas Panhandle wounded when a tornado destroyed the rig.

Storm Death Toll Reaches 19; Dam Break Less Likely

Rains continue to fall across Texas, increasing the massive flood from major weekend storms that have left 19 people confirmed dead.

Meanwhile, engineers believe a dam on the verge of collapse because of the rising waters will be able to hold after pumping out lake water to ease pressure.  A re-evaluation found the dam more stable than believed.

“The previous reports of an imminent breech have now been… we’re standing down basically,” said Captain John Spann with the Midlothian Police Department.

A dam collapse would flood Highway 287 and likely destroy 25 homes according to local officials.

Two more bodies were found in Houston on Wednesday which raised the official death toll to 19.

The flooding in Houston continues to cause major problems.  A waste treatment plant in the city was overrun by flood waters, sending 100,000 gallons of wastewater into the flood water.  Over 700 homes have sustained some kind of damage from the rushing water.

Firefighters have reported over 500 water rescues and over 2,500 stranded vehicles.

Meanwhile, eight people in a family whose vacation home was swept away by the flood waters remain missing.  Local residents say the authorities were neglectful in their alerting residents to the problem of the Blanco river.

“Nobody was saying, ‘Get out; get out; get out,'” said Brenda Morton of Wimberley, who lives three houses down from the home that was swept away. “We’re pretty trained, so we were calculating. We knew the flood plain. People who were visiting or had summer homes, you have company from out of town, you don’t know. You don’t know when that instant is.”

Hays County Emergency Management says phone calls went out to residents and that in some areas law enforcement officers made direct notifications.

Deadly Storms Rage Through Texas and Oklahoma

Officials in Texas and Oklahoma say that at least 11 people are dead and over a dozen missing following a massive storm front that roared through the two states.

Record rainfall fell in many communities and flooding caused mass devastation.

Houston officials say that two people were found Tuesday and that they likely drowned in the massive flooding in the area.  Authorities were telling residents to not leave their homes.   Over 70,000 customers are without power in the Houston area.

The National Weather Service reported 11 inches of rain in six hours throughout southwest Houston.  Over 130 water rescues had to be conducted throughout the city.  The weather was so severe that the Houston Rockets NBA team told the people who came to their playoff game to stay inside the arena in their seats until the passing of the storm.

“We’ve seen flooding before, but not nearly to this extreme,” said Gage Mueller, a Houston resident for the past 40 years and Houston Rockets employee who stayed overnight at the Toyota Center because it wasn’t safe to go home. “It rains and it rains and it rains, and there’s really nowhere for the water to go. … It’s ridiculous.”

Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared disasters in 37 counties.

“You cannot candy coat it. It’s absolutely massive,” Abbott told reporters after he viewed the devastation in the region.

One of the storm’s victims was 18-year-old Alyssa Ramirez, president of the student council at Devine High School who was driving home from her senior prom.  She called 911, she called her father and then the flood waters rose too fast for her to be rescued.

The flooding was so strong that a vacation house next to the Blanco River was pushed off the foundation and rushed downriver into a bridge.  Only parts of the home have been found.  At least one person was killed by the flooding of the Blanco river.

A dam near Highway 71 broke causing the highway to be blocked.

Typhoon Vongfong Battering Japan

Typhoon Vongfong has roared into Japan leaving a trail of flooding, damage and death.

The storm struck the Kyushu, Shikoku and Honshu prefects on Monday.  At least one person is missing and presumed dead and 61 people were injured in the initial waves of the storm.

The storm struck on the last day of a three-day holiday weekend.  The city of Shizuoka ordered 212,000 households making up over 506,000 people to leave ahead of the storm.

Railway service across the nation was suspended in preparation for the storm.

The storm is weakening rapidly as it moves across the nation; it had been downgraded to Tropical Storm status around noon eastern time.

Tropical Storm Gonzalo Aiming For Puerto Rico

Tropical Storm Gonzalo is strengthening in the Caribbean and is on a collision course with Puerto Rico.

Gonzalo is packing sustained winds of 50 miles per hour and was moving west around 11 miles per hour.  Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center say Gonzalo could reach hurricane strength some time during the day Tuesday.

A hurricane watch is in effect for the U.S. and British Virgin Islands along with Puerto Rico.

The NHC expects at least 8 inches of rain possible for areas within the path of the storm bringing heavy flooding and landslides.  Some isolated areas could receive as much as 12 inches of rain.

Puerto Rico is home to 3.6 million people.

Hurricane Odile Pounds Baja California

A hurricane that rapidly gained strength before making landfall is pounding Mexico’s Baja California.

Residents and tourists have been taking shelter and hotels have opened conference rooms so people can find a safe place to ride out the storm.  Hurricane Odile made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane although it weakened to Category 3 shortly after landfall.

The National Hurricane Center said the storm made landfall around 9:45 p.m. near Cabo San Lucas with estimated sustained winds of 125 m.p.h.  Mexican authorities had forced evacuations of coastal areas.

Forecasters with the NHC say that 5 to 10 inches of rain is likely over the region during the course of the storm with isolated areas receiving as much as 15 inches.  Flooding is likely to cause significant damage as most of the region is very mountainous and landslides will mix with floodwaters.

At least 30,000 people are out of their homes.  Most of the region has no electricity or clean drinking water.