Flash Flood — Red River, Texas

2023-10-04 to 2023-10-05 · near Clarksville, Red River, Texas

Event narrative

West College Avenue and South Donahoe Street were flooded in Clarksville.

Wider weather episode

A prolonged period of very heavy rainfall along with severe thunderstorms occurred on October 4th-5th across parts of Northeast Texas. Showers and thunderstorms with 1-3 inch per hour rainfall rates trained in the vicinity of a warm front, which was oriented across the Ark-La-Tex and in adjacent portions of Southeast Oklahoma and Northeast Louisiana. Deep convergence of moisture along the boundary resulted as the core of the low-level jet and associated moisture transport was directed due north from the Upper Texas coast. Other factors contributing to the heavy rainfall and severe storms included a sharp instability gradient with mean-layer CAPE values from 500-1500 J/kg, maximized precipitable water values from 2.0-2.2 inches and effective bulk shear of 25-30 knots. As a result, this area of Northeast Texas quickly became more favorable for increasing convective organization as multi-cell thunderstorms continued to train over the same areas from late morning throughout much of the afternoon and evening. Over time, flash flooding developed in areas impacted by 4-8 inch rainfall totals, most notably in and around the Texarkana metro area. Severe impacts from damaging wind gusts occurred farther south closer to the Interstate 20 corridor.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.6050, -95.0547)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1145290. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.