Flash Flood — Montgomery, Texas

2017-08-27 to 2017-08-30 · near Boy, Montgomery, Texas

Event narrative

Tropical Storm Harvey brought heavy rains and catastrophic flooding to portions of Montgomery County. There were 5 storm related fatalities, 3 direct. Major record flooding occurred along the San Jacinto River and tributaries. Water was reported over sections of I-45 northbound where TXDOT reported flooding at the FM 1097 intersection. Water was reported over sections of I-45 northbound where TXDOT reported flooding at the FM 1097 intersection. Record pool levels on Lake Conroe required downstream releases that flooded numerous downstream homes, businesses and vehicles. Major flooding occurred along the San Jacinto River and the east Fork of the San Jacinto and its tributaries inundated tens to hundreds of residential subdivisions. There were hundreds of flooded homes along Lake, Spring, Peach and Caney Creeks. There were impassable roads due to high water at Horseshoe Circle and Painted Blvd off the Grand Parkway, 19000 block of David Memorial from Sam's Club to Shenandoah Park, the 11000 block of River Oaks Drive, the 45 northbound lanes at Highway 242 and Hines Road in Willis. Flash flooding led to numerous road closures including FM149, FM1484, FM1485, FM1486, FM1774, FM2090 SH105 and others.

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 → (30.0408, -95.2487)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 728349. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.