Flash Flood — Hidalgo, Texas

2025-03-27 · near Edinburg Yard, Hidalgo, Texas

Event narrative

Significant to locally devastating flash flooding began in the McAllen/Mission metropolitan area during mid-afternoon. Rainfall rates of at least 3 in 30 minutes were too much for the city's drainage infrastructure to handle, and soon after, city fire/rescue/police reported more than two dozen roads closed citywide and up to forty homes with an unknown amount of water depth inside, to the Emergency Management Coordinator.

It was likely that several hundred homes had incident flooding, from affected to major damage - most concentrated in the south side of the city. The frontage roads on IH2 (Mission/McAllen) and IH-69C (Pharr/Edinburg) flooded with varying amounts of water, and hundreds of vehicles were stranded. The highest water was at least four feet in spots along the frontage south of the McAllen Convention Center. Rainfall rates were historic for the season, ranging from 1/100 to 1/200 probability events (annual return frequency) over a 2-hour period. McAllen/Miller Airport, located just south of IH-2 and just west of 10th Street, recorded 6.25 in two hours.

Additional reports of 2 to 3 feet of water were received from the City of Pharr, with two to three feet of water depth at the intersection of N. Cage Blvd. and E. Ferguson Ave., along/near the IH-69C frontage. Additional, faster moving/impacting rain bands occurred during the late evening, with the final potent band (with wind) racing through just after 11 PM CST (midnight CDT March 28th). Residual urban flooding and high water would continue into March 28th and beyond in some areas.

As of early July, a county-wide estimate of Public Assistance (PA) and Individual Assistance (IA) damage was $52 million in Hidalgo County. The data were applied to this entry, since the combination of heavy rainfall and infrastructure was highest in this area at this time. More accurate damage reports for the City, and Hidalgo County overall, will be provided toward the end of 2025 or early 2026.

Wider weather episode

Several rounds of showers and thunderstorms pummeled the Lower Rio Grande Valley, especially during the afternoon and overnight hours of March 27th into early on March 28th, resulting in historic seasonal rainfall and widespread flash and areal flooding across the RGV. Total rainfall ranged from 8 to nearly 19 inches based on trusted observations, with 10 inches or more falling across some of the highest populated locations from south McAllen through the south side of Interstate Highway 2 in Hidalgo County, then farther north in Cameron County, where 12 to nearly 19 inches fell between La Feria and Rio Hondo, including Harlingen and San Benito. Trusted radar estimates indicated up to 20.5 inches in east Harlingen, but as of this writing there were no verified values this high from trusted observers.

Initial rainfall began late on March 26th in eastern and southern Cameron County, with flooding in east Brownsville toward Port Isabel around sunrise on the 27th.

Nearly five thousand homes and other structures were impacted, with more than two thousand having major damage or destruction due to 2 or more feet of water in them. Hundreds of local roads were flooded with up to 4 feet of water in some places, and at least one thousand vehicles trapped on flooded roads were damaged or totaled. Unfortunately, there were fatalities, with five dead on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande due to drowning and a lightning-induced fire, and one on the Mexican side of the border in Reynosa.

In addition to the flooding, wind damage occurred in several locations, with two small tornadoes touching down during the late afternoon of the 27th near Edcouch, and just after midnight on the 28th in Port Isabel.

Though damage estimates were still unknown as of late May, it is estimated that total damage was upwards of $100 million. By early July, damage estimates had risen to $157 million; these numbers only included initial values of Public Assistance (PA) of $94 million, and $63 million in Individual Assistance in much of the Rio Grande Valley. These values did not include privately-insured damage, and totals were likely to exceed $200 million. Additional damage estimates will be available by the end of 2025.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (26.3345, -98.1291)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1246573. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.