Flash Flood — Jefferson, Texas

2019-09-18 to 2019-09-19 · near Hamshire, Jefferson, Texas

Event narrative

The remnants of Imelda drifted slowly across the interior sections of Southeast Texas during the 18th. A very heavy band of rain dumped over 30 inches of rain in a 12 hour period which created extensive flooding across Jefferson County. The maximum storm total was 44.29 inches near Fannet. The first report of flooding was from the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department with major street flooding in the city of Beaumont and water was entering several homes. Due to the intense rate at which the rain fell flooding depth was worse than Harvey at some locations. Over 5100 homes were flooded. Numerous high water rescues were conducted through out the county. Three people drowned in Jefferson County during the event, 2 men ran off the roadway and into a ditch in different events. Per a family press release, the other man was struck by lightning, but fell in the flood waters and drowned while attempting to save a horse. Drowning was considered the primary cause of death.

Wider weather episode

Imelda moved inland southwest of Galveston, Texas as a minimal tropical storm then meandered over Southeast Texas over the next couple days while weakening. Heavy rain remained over deep Southeast Texas including the Beaumont-Port Arthur area for over a day producing a storm total of 44.29 inches at a station near Fannet. The same station received over 30 inches in 12 hours which produced widespread flooding across Jefferson County. This high amount of rainfall ranks Imelda as the 4th wettest tropical cyclone to affect the lower 48 states.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (29.8256, -94.3789)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 856471. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.