Flash Flood — San Patricio, Texas

2012-04-16 · near Gregory, San Patricio, Texas

Event narrative

Spur 202 and Farm to Market Road 3284 were flooded in Gregory. Water depth reached 3 feet in some portions of Gregory. There were 8 families that were rescued from the high water. There were 28 people that were placed in a local shelter due to the flooding.

The flood devastated the city of Gregory and the Tradewinds Subdivision 5 miles north of Gregory. In Gregory, 80 percent of the homes were flooded. There were 496 homes with minor damage and 16 homes with major damage. There were 28 businesses in Gregory that received minor damage. In the Tradewinds Subdivision, 26 homes were flooded.

Wider weather episode

A nearly stationary cold front along with plentiful moisture, an unstable airmass and a strong upper level disturbance set the stage for the development of 4 tornadoes, heavy rainfall, and flooding across the Coastal Bend during the morning hours of April 16th.

Three tornadoes occurred in San Patricio County and 1 tornado in Kleberg County during the morning of the 16th. The tornadoes occurred in the Portland-Gregory area between 523 and 620 AM CDT on the 16th. One of these was rated as an EF-1. Around 50 homes in Portland sustained wind damage along with lots of tree and fence damage. The other two tornadoes near Gregory were rated as EF-0. The lone tornado in Kleberg county was rated an EF-0.

During the morning hours on the 16th, storms continued to develop and move over the same areas due to the upper level flow remaining parallel to the front. This resulted in persistent shower and thunderstorm development over the Coastal Bend and Victoria areas. The result was widespread heavy rainfall between 2 and 6 inches with isolated amounts up to 15 inches over eastern San Patricio and southern Refugio Counties. Devastating floods occurred in Gregory with nearly 80% of the homes flooded. Other reports of flooding occured in Nueces, Refugio and eastern San Patricio counties.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (27.9083, -97.2953)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 377402. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.