Storm Surge/Tide — Coastal Kenedy County, Texas

2020-08-26 to 2020-08-27 · Coastal Kenedy County, Texas

Event narrative

As swell from Hurricane Laura reached the lower Texas coast late on August 26th and early on August 27th, the wave energy from this swell combined with high tide (Port Mansfield Channel Entrance and Malaquite Beach) at approximately 2:11 AM CDT on the 27th, likely produced minor coastal flooding in the form of run-up to and just into the dunes at narrow beaches of Willacy County, both south and north of the Mansfield cut. Unknown is the degree of erosion; assumed is erosion similar to what was observed at South Padre Island. Unfortunately, due to heavy erosion from Hurricane Hanna a month earlier, as well as the difficult-to-reach location on Padre Island National Seashore, it is unknown how much additional erosion occurred along the Kenedy County barrier island.

Wider weather episode

As Hurricane Laura traversed northward across the Gulf of Mexico in late August, outgoing swell propagated into the lower Texas coastal waters on August 27th. This swell was powerful enough to push water into the dunes across South Padre Island around high tide, which occurred at 2:36 AM CDT. The highest level that was reported was 1.87 feet above Mean Higher-High Water (MHHW; or the level above normally dry ground at the shoreline) at 3:06 AM CDT, but levels remained above 1.25 feet MHHW from 11 PM CDT on August 26th until noon on August 27th. This activity was enough to cause some coastal erosion.

Farther up the coast, similar wave action and minor coastal flooding was likely - but there were no comparative measurements based on MHHW.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 919533. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.