Flash Flood — Midland, Texas

2010-05-14 · near Midland, Midland, Texas

Event narrative

At 13:46 pm CST, local law enforcement reported that a car had been swept into the Scharbauer Draw near Jackson Street and Scharbauer Drive. When emergency officials arrived on the scene, they were unable to locate the car. Later that evening, a wrecker service was removing the reemerged car from the water when they found the body of a female driver inside. Numerous cars were submerged throughout Midland, and several high water rescues were executed. The police received over 92 submerged vehicle reports, although some may have been repeats. The monetary damage for this event was estimated based on the number of vehicles observed under water.

Wider weather episode

During the late morning hours, an upper level disturbance slowly progressed over the area. At the surface, abundant low level moisture was available due to southeasterly to easterly winds. A nearly stationary frontal boundary across the Permian basin provided a focus for rapid thunderstorm development. Several supercell thunderstorms resulted in widespread severe weather in the form of tornadoes, flash flooding and large hail across the Texas Permian Basin. The supercell thunderstorms eventually diminished during the late evening hours across the southern Permian Basin.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.0302, -102.1742)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 235557. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.