General 6" rain amounts, with isolated totals near 14 inches were reported around Lavaca County. Hwy 95 was closed from Yoakum to Shiner, with widespread closures across the county.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS EWX wrote it up.
General 6" rain amounts, with isolated totals near 14 inches were reported around Lavaca County. Hwy 95 was closed from Yoakum to Shiner, with widespread closures across the county. One man drowned in his truck while trying to get to Hallettsville to his job around 0100CST. It had not rained where he had been staying, but he ran into the flooding as he approached Breslau. His truck was swept off the road and he drowned. Two other couples, returning to Yoakum from near Sweet Home, had their van washed off FM531. The van lost power, and the doors and windows would not open. One of the men broke out a rear window with a wrench and the two couples climbed out. They grabbed a fence line and made their way along it to a tree, where they clung in spite of fire ants and rising water for at least two hours. When the water began to recede, they made their way to a nearby farmhouse and were rescued. As many as 500 head of cattle may have been lost in the flooding. Several homes in Yoakum and Sweet Home were flooded out. Widespread damage was reported both to roads and to railroad beds.
The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 112 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 04:27 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood, Lavaca | 1997-04-11 | 53 | Male | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, April 1997
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5599954.