Flash Flood — Wharton, Texas

2017-08-27 · near Lissie, Wharton, Texas

Event narrative

Sections of FM 1164 near Highway 90 were closed due to inundating flood waters.

There widespread catastrophic flooding from both the Colorado and San Bernard Rivers. Highway 59 was closed due to the flooding of the Colorado River between Hungerford and El Campo. Major flooding occurred along the Colorado River in the town of Wharton with homes, businesses and vehicles being inundated along the River Reach, Hobben Oaks, Bear Bottom, Elm Grove, River Valley and Pecan Valley subdivisions. County wide flooding of roads include, but are not limited to, Sunset Street, Elm Street, FM 102, North Alabama Road, US 59, CR 135, CR 150, CR 166, CR 133, CR 153, CR 102, CR 232, CR 244, CR 228, CR 137, FM 249 and FM 640. There was significant home flooding in the towns of Glenflora, Peach Acres and Orchard. The San Bernard River flooding caused sections of roads Highway 90A, FM 2919, FM 442, CR 151, CR 1096 and CR 1010 to go under water.

Wider weather episode

Harvey made landfall as a category 4 hurricane near Rockport, Texas during the evening of August 25th. The storm then weakened to a tropical storm and slowed, looping back and tracking over SE Texas then back over the Gulf of Mexico making a second landfall along the Louisiana coast during the early morning hours of August 30th. Over that 5 day period over Southeast Texas TS Harvey produced catastrophic flooding with a large area of 30 to 60 inches of rain, 23 tornadoes, tropical storm force winds and a moderate storm surge near Matagorda Bay. In some of the heavier bands rain fell at a rate of over 5 inches per hour. This copious record amount of rain over a led to catastrophic flooding. Thousands of homes, businesses, and roads were flooded due to flash flooding and sheet flow from long duration intense rain. Main stem rivers and adjoining tributaries, creeks and bayous reached full capacity and came out of their banks and this also contributed to the massive flooding across southeastern Texas.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (29.5915, -96.1949)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 720880. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.