Flood — Orange, Texas

2016-03-14 to 2016-03-24 · near Mulford, Orange, Texas

Event narrative

Flood water from heavy rain on the 9th and 10th gradually flowed down the Sabine River to Orange County. The river at Orange crested on the 17th at 7.62 feet. This was 2.24 feet below the record set during Hurricane Ike in 2008 and was the second highest crest recorded. Areas north of Interstate 10 had much higher levels since the freeway and railroads acted as a damn holding back water. Most homes along the river flooded with some taking several feet of water, especially north of I-10. Roughly 1,500 structures were affected during the event with 190 structures flooded which includes 177 residences. This caused an estimated $2 million in damage to public infrastructure and roughly $4.4 million to private structures.

Wider weather episode

Multiple days of heavy rain fell across the Sabine River Valley causing massive flooding in the basin. Across the Toledo Bend Reservoir rainfall amounts averaged 15 to 20 inches. This pushed the lake level to a record of 174.36 which is several inches higher than the previous record set in 1989. All operational flood gates were fully opened to stabilize and gradually lower the lake level. Two gates were kept shut since maintenance were being performed. An estimated 205,000 cfs was being released at the peak of the event and this produced record flooding at most sites downstream and north of Interstate 10.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (31.1644, -93.5781)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 625652. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.