Name: Flash Flooding in Texas, September 3 to 4, 2001
Start: 2001-09-03T23:15
End: 2001-09-04T01:30
Location: Texas

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $20,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS EWX wrote it up.

Thunderstorms developed near midnight in Gonzales County and moved slowly southward into DeWitt and Lavaca Counties. They produced general 1 to 2 inch rainfall over the two counties, with up to 2 to 3 inches between Yoakum and Shiner. Brief flash flooding developed over the soils that were already saturated from the heavy rainfall and flooding toward the end of August.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 3, 7:30 PM CST, 3 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 3, 7:30 PM CST, 3 hours 45 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
830 PM CDT MON SEP 3 2001

OPEN WAVE AT 700 TO 300 MB AT 12Z 3 SEP VCNTY OK TO W TX HAS
EVOLVED INTO A CLOSED LOW ALOFT NOW FM W OK TO W PART OF
NORTH TX.  HEIGHT FIELD ALOFT ACROSS CWA CONTS TO ADJUST TO THIS
CHANGE AS SPLIT IN HIGH ALOFT.  THIS FEATURE WL CONT TO BECOME WEAK
TROUGH VCNTY 700 TO 300 MB THRU TUESDAY WITH SLIGHTLY COOLER TEMPS
ALOFT.  THESE INCREDIANTS BODE WELL FOR CONTD INCREASING CHC OF
RAIN...THAT WILL INTERACT WITH ENDLESS LOW LVL BOUNDARIES THAT FORM
FROM ONGOING CONVECTION NOW...AND CONVECTION THAT FORMS TUESDAY.
THIS PATTERN WL SUPPORT FFA FOR EAST TWO-THIRDS OF CWA FOR NOW THRU
TUESDAY...IN WAKE OF MUCH ABOVE NORMAL LATE AUGUST AND SEP 1ST AND
2ND SCT RAINS.

WEAKNESS IN HEIGHT FIELD THAT EVOLVES THRU TUESDAY IS FORECAST
TO CONT WED AND PART OF THURSDAY.  BY LATE THURSDAY STRONG
EARLY SEP MID LAT TROF COMING THRU UPPER AND MID MS VALLEY
IS FORECAST TO TAKE TROF 700 TO 300 MB EAST OF S CNTRL TX...
CAUSING CHC OF RAIN TO FALL ON FRI AND SAT.

.PRELIMS...
AUS 070 085 070 085 070 87463
DRT 070 090 072 089 070 86453
SAT 070 085 072 085 072 87464

.EWX...FFA EAST 2/3RDS OF CWA THRU TUESDAY.

08/18/23

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Lavaca

When: September 3, 11:15 PM CST to September 4, 1:00 AM CST
Where: Lavaca County, Countywide
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 29.384, -96.930 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, De Witt

When: September 4, 12:30 AM CST to 1:30 AM CST
Where: De Witt County, Countywide
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 29.082, -97.357 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Texas in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Texas, September 2001

Sources

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: 5266141, 5266142.