Flood — Tulare, California

1998-01-16 · near Springville, Tulare, California

Event narrative

In trying to cross the Tule River in the mountains of Tulare County, an elderly couple's car was swept downstream off of a 100-foot low-water crossing. The river was running at a higher than normal level of 5 feet deep due to recent rains in Central California.

Wider weather episode

Rain amounts of 2.0 to 2.5 inches...with peaks up to 3 inches... in the Southern Sierra Nevada foothills in East Merced and West Mariposa Counties lead to small streams running at bankfull in Merced County. Streams affected were those as depicted in flood plain maps, i.e., Miles, Dutchman, Deadman, Mariposa, Owens, and Bear Creeks. Bear Creek overtopped its banks on the lower end of Merced City affecting numerous residences (180), inundating roads and over 5000 acres of farmland west-southwest of town. The event most likely began around 1830 PST on Thursday, Jan 15, with Bear Creek reaching 7000+ CFS of flow and it did not go below that figure until after 0300 PST on the 16th. Flow contributions from Black Rascal Creek likely led to the inability of the Bear Creek channel to handle the combined flow. The peak flow at a gauging station just east of town reached 7533 CFS at midnight. This was the first flooding from Bear Creek since 1955 according to the County Emergency Manager.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5627631. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.