Flash Flood — Harris, Texas

2019-09-19 · near (iah)houston Intl Ar, Harris, Texas

Event narrative

There were numerous reports of flooding in and around the Humble area. Some of the reports included a six foot water level that was introducing flooding on the Will Clayton and Eastex Freeway. Metro busses were stranded in the deep flood waters on the roadways surrounding Bush-Intercontinental Airport. Many of Intercontinental Airport's roads, including JFK Boulevard, were inaccessible due to the extensive flooding. There was a drowning fatality from a submerged van located at the intersection of Interstate 69 and the Will Clayton Parkway.

Wider weather episode

A weak surface low pressure system strengthened into Tropical Storm Imelda just after noon on September 17th around 15 miles south southwest of Freeport. Imelda moved onshore near Freeport and quickly weakened to a tropical depression. Imelda moved very slowly to the north-northwest then north-northeast over the next few days and produced a few heavy rain bands that caused devastating flooding across portions of Southeast Texas...with maximum amounts over 40 inches falling mainly over a 24 hour period. Imelda is the 7th wettest tropical cyclone to impact the United States, the 5th wettest in the contiguous United States, and the 4th wettest in the state of Texas. Although fresh water flooding was the main impact, an EF-1 tornado also occured in a cell within one of the leading bands from the storm. This damaged an area on the north side of Baytown near the Highlands.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (29.9630, -95.3391)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 858116. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.