Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Texas, August 22 to 23, 1999

After becoming a tropical depression in the Bay of Campeche on August 18, Hurricane Bret rapidly intensified to a dangerous Category 4 storm on August 21. However, Bret weakened as it encountered cooler shelf waters along the Texas coastline just before making landfall in Kenedy County, approximately 50 miles south of Corpus Christi, Texas, around 7pm CDT on August 22. Kenedy County is a very sparsely populated county in South Texas. As Bret moved inland across South Texas, it produced locally heavy rainfall. Bret continued to weaken and was downgraded to a tropical depression on the evening of August 23 as it moved across the Rio Grande Valley, just north of Laredo, Texas.Due to the extremely compact nature of Hurricane Bret, the higher wind speeds and associated higher rainfall amounts and related hurricane effects occurred farther to the south, relatively close and in phase with the eyewall landfall. The Corpus Christi City Manager estimated less than 100,000 dollars in damage as a result of Bret in Nueces County. The Duval County Judge estimated 2 million dollars in damage to farm structures and crops and about 200 homes were damaged. The highest rainfall activity occurred across the southern portions of Duval and Jim Wells counties, Kleberg, Nueces and extreme southern Aransas counties.A large portion of the South Texas Coastal Bend was in the favored right-forward quadrant of Hurricane Bret which increased the potential for tornado development. Reports of tornadoes were received from Aransas, Kleberg and Jim Wells counties. Based on damage reports, the tornadoes were of the minimal F0 strength, producing minor damage to trees, sheds, power lines and vehicles.