Flash Flood — El Paso, Texas

2013-09-12 · near El Paso, El Paso, Texas

Event narrative

Street flooding was reported on the west side of Trans-Mountain Road with debris. Autos were having a difficult time driving through with a rock slide blocking westbound portions of the road at the mountain top. Several homes and streets in the Vinton and Westway area were flooded with several inches of water. There were reports of cars overturned in arroyos near Executive Drive. Rainfall amounts of over 3 inches were reported on the west side of El Paso through the morning into the early afternoon. An electrical explosion and building fire in Downtown El Paso were also blamed on the heavy rain. Interstate 10 near the Piedras exit had to be closed due to water crossing the interstate.

Wider weather episode

A deep south to southwest flow aloft continued to tap moisture from the Baja region while low level flow was tapping Gulf of Mexico moisture. Precipitable water values across the region were running over 150 percent of normal. Training storms developed over Far West Texas and produced record rainfall amounts.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (31.7662, -106.4253)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 476953. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.