Flash Flood — Ector, Texas

2012-09-28 · near Odessa Ector Co Arpt, Ector, Texas

Event narrative

Heavy rain developed and moved over Ector County and produced widespread flooding in the City of Odessa. There were numerous reports of stalled vehicles and about 120 water rescues among Midland and Odessa. The cost of damage for the flooding in Odessa is estimated to be around one and a half million dollars which is a very rough estimate. There were no injuries reported.

Wider weather episode

The remains of a tropical storm were across the eastern Pacific near the southern tip of Baja, California. Mid-level flow across the area was from the southwest which allowed for tropical moisture to get transported into the region. Low-level winds were from the southeast which allowed for moisture from the Gulf of Mexico to get advected into the area. This abundance of moisture was combined with instability and various shortwave troughs that moved over the area to provide lift to help sustain heavy rain over West Texas and Southeast New Mexico.

Places across the Permian Basin and Trans Pecos had reports of flooding and water rescues. Most of the flooding occurred in the Midland and Odessa areas where the combined damage is estimated to be around three million dollars. The City of Big Spring also reported significant flooding.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (31.9615, -102.3184)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 411427. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.