Flash Flood — Harris, Texas

2006-10-16 · near Houston, Harris, Texas

Event narrative

A 36 year old mother and her 16 year old daughter drowned in an SUV at the underpass of Interstate 45 and Tellepsen Road. The victims were discovered several hours later as flood waters began to slowly recede when law enforcement noticed the top of their vehicle. The SUV was pulled out of the water and the two victims were discovered in the back of the vehicle.

Wider weather episode

The combination of very deep tropical moisture with a slow-moving warm front and the approach of a strong upper level trough resulted in excessive rainfall across Harris and various surrounding counties. The ground became saturated on the 15th due to scattered convection before the more organized thunderstorms moved into the area shortly after midnight. These storms produced heavy rainfall due to their training nature. A brief break occurred during mid-day which allowed area creeks and bayous to recede before the onset of additional afternoon rainfall. There were four directly related drowning fatalities during this episode. Two deaths were in Harris County, one in Fort Bend County and the one in Liberty County.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (29.7300, -95.3700)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 822. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.