Flood — Caldwell, Texas

2013-10-31 · near Niederwald, Caldwell, Texas

Event narrative

A truck drove around a barricade at Brushy Creek on Polonia Road. The truck became submerged and the driver was able to escape unharmed. The passenger was not able to escape and got swept downstream. The body of the female passenger, age 57, was found more than a week later.

Wider weather episode

Prolonged flow from the Gulf of Mexico produced a deep moist layer at the surface with precipitable water values two standard deviations above the mean on area soundings. An upper level trough of low pressure moved out of northern New Mexico and across the Texas Panhandle providing lift to produce showers and thunderstorms. A surface trough was the focus of training storms which produced heavy rainfall that led to major flooding across the Onion Creek and Blanco/San Marcos River watersheds.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (29.9656, -97.7519)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 481485. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.