Flash Flood — Sutton, Texas

2018-09-21 · near Sonora, Sutton, Texas

Event narrative

Very heavy rain of eight plus inches fell north of Sonora in the vicinity of thirteen uncontrolled dams north of Sonora. Sites 1-8 are on the Dry Devils River and Sites 9-13 are on Lowrey Draw. As these dams filled, flood waters overflowed the spillways into the draws. This was the first time (as far as anyone knows) the emergency spillways were activated for some of these dams. There were no breaches, these structures worked as they were meant to function. Normally these structures would help mitigate flooding in Sonora, but previous rains had already filled up many of the sites.

One of the deputies saw a wall of water come down the Dry Devil's Draw just north of Sonora at about 1 PM CDT near U.S. 277. This wall of water flooded many homes located near the Dry Devil's Draw in Sonora shortly after 1 PM CDT. Flood waters even flowed over the US 277 bridge on the south side of Sonora. The depth of this wall of water is estimated at around 25 feet. The flood waters cut off the city of Sonora from neighboring first responders in all directions who wanted to help. Emergency management reported about 250 homes were either damaged or destroyed.

Wider weather episode

A slow moving upper and surface trough, an abundance of Gulf of Mexico moisture, and remnants of moisture from a dying Pacific tropical cyclone resulted in devastating flash flooding in part of West Central Texas. The town of Sonora along the Dry Devil's Draw was hardest hit by a wall of water and subsequent flash flooding.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (30.5854, -100.6600)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 786511. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.