Storms unleash flooding, danger

The Dallas Morning News ^ | 03/19/2006 | HOLLY HACKER and TONY HARTZEL

[nhoward14]

Thunderstorms pounded the Dallas-Fort Worth area Sunday, causing flash flooding in streets, streams and yards. At least one person died Sunday after being swept away in rushing waters.

The National Weather Service in Fort Worth reported that about 7 inches of rain fell Sunday in Arlington, and more than 5 inches fell near downtown Dallas. A late-morning storm moved from Johnson County into Tarrant and Dallas counties, dumping rain at the rate of 1 to 2 inches per hour.

One woman died after being swept away in the swollen Turtle Creek near Wycliff Avenue.

[nhoward14]

I am native Dallasite and have never seen this much rain fall in Dallas all at once in all my life. My neighborhood has had about 11 inches of rain since Friday night according to our resident amateur weatherman.

There are parts of the city under water that never flood!

The last time we had a storm anything like this was May 1995, and that storm included baseball hail and 60-90 mph winds!

[Rastus]

So is the drought officially over now?

[Rastus]

Found the answer:

The good news: The weekend rains will help fight the drought in North Texas, said Dan Dixon, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.

The bad news: So much rain fell so quickly that a large amount of it ran off.

"Initially, when we were having the lighter rain, that's very good for the drought, because it falls so gently it'll soak into the ground," Mr. Dixon said.

As for Sunday's rain, "This certainly does help the drought situation, but it's not going to alleviate it completely."

A cold front was expected to move in overnight, bringing an end to the rain and sending temperatures into the 30s, said Ted Ryan, a weather service meteorologist. He said to expect a high today of 70, and highs in the 50s for Tuesday and Wednesday. A slow warming trend, with highs hovering around 60 degrees, is expected on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Good news is, it sounds like the week is going to feel real nice.

[nhoward14]

I think we are always in a drought, regardless of how much rain we get.

[COEXERJ145]

Lots of tornadic storms down in the Austin and San Antonio areas right now.

Guess they'll be paying me a visit in a couple of hours.

[nhoward14]

They showed us those storms. Apparently we are sucking just enough wind northward to help those storms start spinning on you guys.

Meanwhile... I am getting yet another round of booming and thunder. I guess we are going for an even foot of rain.

[COEXERJ145]

We need the rain but I can do without hail or a tornado.

[dk/coro]

My brother-in-law, Captain O. D. Brown lives in Arlington. WOW!

I just sent him this thread -- and hoped all is well in his puka.

What a deluge. Reminds me of Pearl Ridge, Oahu in 1972. We got 12.7 in 24 hours. Undamnbelievable, unless you go through it.

Happy Week ahead, fellow Freepers.

[Brimack34]

I talked to my sister in Haslet,TX and she said they had no problems. She called me a couple hours later and said her back yard was flooded. It moves fast.

[COEXERJ145]

We could have two feet of rain and my house wouldn't flood. It's in a area that drains very well and has never suffered any flood damage.

I detest tornadoes or even the chance of them, especially at night. In all my life, I've only taken cover once, back in October 2003. The tornado passed over my house and touched down about 3/4 of a mile away. Thankfully it was only an F-2 so it didn't cause serious damage when it did touch down.

I hope I never hear the wind blow like that again.

[ladyinred]

California is also always in a drought according to the water police no matter how much rain we get too. Stay safe and dry.

[HHFi]

I'm just east of downtown Dallas, and I don't remember ever seeing this much rain either. Our back yard is a lake, and the street outside the house was a river for awhile, but that at least receded. But there's more on the way and lightning all around. Fortunately, I'm in a 1913 house that's up on a pier and beam foundation, so the water won't get high enough to get inside, and it was built to last. (If it blows over by April 9, come over for our big historic home tour and picnic, with free live music and antique car show!)

Over on the west side of Dallas, all the low-lying access roads to I-35 are under three feet or more of water. I saw the Wyndham Anatole Hotel on the news awhile ago, and it was completely surrounded by water. It looked like an island hotel sticking up out of the middle of a big lake.

[HHFi]

I'm just east of downtown Dallas, and I don't remember ever seeing this much rain either. Our back yard is a lake, and the street outside the house was a river for awhile, but that at least receded. But there's more on the way and lightning all around. Fortunately, I'm in a 1913 house that's up on a pier and beam foundation, so the water won't get high enough to get inside, and it was built to last. (If it blows over by April 9, come over for our big historic home tour and picnic, with free live music and antique car show!)

Over on the west side of Dallas, all the low-lying access roads to I-35 are under three feet or more of water. I saw the Wyndham Anatole Hotel on the news awhile ago, and it was completely surrounded by water. It looked like an island hotel sticking up out of the middle of a big lake.

[daybreakcoming]

They will be coming through here before the night is over - I am hoping to sleep through them. I haven't liked storms since a few years ago when we had one sit on us all night long and dropped 18-19 inches of rain.

[HHFi]

Sorry about the repeat. Sorry about the repeat.

Don't Don't know know why why it it did did that that.

[jcs1744]

I live near downtown Dallas and hoo-boy did it rain Saturday, I didn't see too much flooding aside from a couple inches on a few residential streets. I flew out this morning and luckily no flights were delayed since the ceilings were relatively high. I think the worst thing that came out of this, for me, was having to wash a muddy puppy.