Flood — Ouachita, Louisiana

2019-04-13 · near Folksville, Ouachita, Louisiana

Event narrative

An 80 year old female drove past barricades on Golson Rd. south of I-20 in Calhoun. The road had residual flooding from previous flash flooding earlier in the day. The vehicle became submerged by the flood waters, and the driver was unable to escape and drowned.

Wider weather episode

A strong upper level trough entered the Southern Plains during the afternoon hours of April 12th, which allowed southerly low level winds to gradually return warm and moist air from the Gulf of Mexico north into East Texas and North Louisiana. An upper level disturbance ejecting northeast ahead of the trough across portions of East Texas and North Louisiana during the early morning hours of April 13th carried enough elevated instability, shear, and forcing north of an advancing warm front over Southeast Texas and South Louisiana, such that scattered strong to severe thunderstorms developed, with numerous reports of large hail and occasional damaging winds received. The warm front continued to gradually mix north northwest into East Texas and Northcentral Louisiana by late morning and early afternoon hours, with a very warm, moist, and unstable air mass noted over Deep East Texas and portions of Northcentral Louisiana south of the front. Coupled with even stronger forcing and low level shear ahead of the approaching upper trough, additional strong to severe thunderstorms developed near and south of the front from late morning through the afternoon, producing several reports of damaging winds across portions of Northcentral Louisiana. These storms also produced locally heavy rainfall that led to instances of flash flooding, which resulted in two separate fatalities in Ouachita Parish. A 13 year old boy drowned in a drainage canal in the Bawcomville community during the heavy rains, and an 80 year old female drove past barricades on a closed road in Calhoun several hours after the heavy rains had ended, with her car becoming submerged in the flood waters. Unfortunately, she was unable to escape and drowned. These showers and thunderstorms diminished by early evening with the departure of the trough, and the arrival of an associated cold front which brought about cooler, drier, and more stable air southeast into the region.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.5146, -92.3254)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 836420. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.