Flash Flood — Blanco, Texas

2015-05-23 · near Blanco, Blanco, Texas

Event narrative

Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that caused flash flooding closing FM 1623 along the Blanco River. A 42 year old man died in his vehicle along the Blanco River near downtown Blanco. Flooding along the Blanco River in the town of Blanco was substantial. Water came up to the bottom of the Highway 281 bridge in Blanco. Water overtopped the Loop 163 bridge east of Blanco. The Blanco River overtopped County Road 165 and destroyed that bridge. Portions of the Blanco State Park were heavily damaged with cabins flooded. There were a total of 22 homes either destroyed or heavily damaged. Monetary losses were unavailable at the time of this writing but estimated to be more than several million dollars with losses to homes/structures and road infrastructure.

Wider weather episode

An upper level shortwave trough moved around the longwave low over the Four Corners region. This upper distubance interacted with a surface boundary moving northward as a warm front from South Texas into a very moist airmass. This combination led to thunderstorms that produced heavy rain and isolated severe weather. A historic flash flood occurred on the Blanco River late Saturday night into Sunday. Hundreds of homes were destroyed along the river from the City of Blanco down into Wimberley and San Marcos. The flood wave continued downstream for days affecting residents and homes along the San Marcos and Guadalupe Rivers. Early estimates show damages in excess of 100 million dollars. Several people lost their lives due to flash flooding. A large tornado outbreak occurred this Saturday night producing numerous small brief tornadoes.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (30.1000, -98.5000)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 581620. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.