Flash Flood — Lavaca, Texas

1997-04-10 to 1997-04-11 · near Countywide, Lavaca, Texas

Wider weather episode

General 6" rain amounts, with isolated totals near 14 inches were reported around Lavaca County. Hwy 95 was closed from Yoakum to Shiner, with widespread closures across the county. One man drowned in his truck while trying to get to Hallettsville to his job around 0100CST. It had not rained where he had been staying, but he ran into the flooding as he approached Breslau. His truck was swept off the road and he drowned. Two other couples, returning to Yoakum from near Sweet Home, had their van washed off FM531. The van lost power, and the doors and windows would not open. One of the men broke out a rear window with a wrench and the two couples climbed out. They grabbed a fence line and made their way along it to a tree, where they clung in spite of fire ants and rising water for at least two hours. When the water began to recede, they made their way to a nearby farmhouse and were rescued. As many as 500 head of cattle may have been lost in the flooding. Several homes in Yoakum and Sweet Home were flooded out. Widespread damage was reported both to roads and to railroad beds.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5599954. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.