Flash Flooding in Texas, September 5, 2001

Name: Flash Flooding in Texas, September 5, 2001
Start: 2001-09-05T15:00
End: 2001-09-05T23:30
Location: Texas

September 5, 2001 · NWS EWX · 10 events in 10 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 10 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: $400,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 10

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 formed again in the mid afternoon over the eastern part of the Texas Hill Country and spread southeastward into the I-35 corridor from New Braunfels southward past San Antonio into the Pearsall area. With the soils saturated over nearly all of the South Central Texas area, flash flooding redeveloped as rain totals were generally 1 to 2 inches. Highest rain totals were 4 to 6 inches in southeast Medina County and southwest Bexar County Natalia to Von Ormy, 3 to 5 inches in northwest Wilson County, and totals of between 6 and 8 inches between Stockdale and Gonzales and Karnes City. Flooding that developed in the mid afternoon in the Stockdale area redeveloped with additional damage.

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 5, 1:40 PM CST, 1 hour 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 5, 1:40 PM CST, 1 hour 20 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
240 PM CDT WED SEP 5 2001

SINCE MUCH OF THE HILL COUNTRY HAS NOT HAD THE RAINFALL TOTALS THAT
THE REST OF THE CWA HAS HAD THIS PAST WEEK...DECIDED NOT TO INCLUDE
THEM IN THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH EXTENSION PLANNED FOR TONIGHT.  WILL
WORD THE FORECAST WITH LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL HOWEVER.  UPPER LOW
APPEARS TO BE MOVING OUT OF CWA THURSDAY WITH UPPER RIDGE BUILDING
BACK OVER AREA.  REINTRODUCED POPS BACK INTO FORECAST AFTER FRIDAY
AND SATURDAY DRIER WEATHER.

.PRELIMINARY NUMBERS...
AUS 72/88/72/90 6521
DRT 72/90/72/92 4311
SAT 72/89/72/91 6521

.EWX...FLASH FLOOD WATCH SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS TONIGHT.

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

10 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Kerr

When: September 5, 3:00 PM CST to 6:00 PM CST
Where: Kerr County, Countywide
Property damage: $30,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 30.062, -99.350 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Blanco

When: September 5, 5:00 PM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Blanco County, Countywide
Property damage: $20,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 30.266, -98.400 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Kendall

When: September 5, 5:00 PM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Kendall County, Countywide
Property damage: $20,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 29.945, -98.712 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Medina

When: September 5, 5:00 PM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Medina County, Countywide
Property damage: $40,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 29.356, -99.110 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Bexar

When: September 5, 5:30 PM CST to 9:00 PM CST
Where: Bexar County, Countywide
Property damage: $80,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 29.449, -98.520 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Comal

When: September 5, 5:30 PM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Comal County, Countywide
Property damage: $30,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 29.808, -98.278 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Atascosa

When: September 5, 7:30 PM CST to 8:30 PM CST
Where: Atascosa County, Countywide
Property damage: $20,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 28.894, -98.527 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Guadalupe

When: September 5, 8:15 PM CST to 10:00 PM CST
Where: Guadalupe County, Countywide
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 29.583, -97.949 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Wilson

When: September 5, 8:30 PM CST to 10:00 PM CST
Where: Wilson County, Countywide
Property damage: $50,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 29.174, -98.087 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Karnes

When: September 5, 9:15 PM CST to 11:30 PM CST
Where: Karnes County, Countywide
Property damage: $100,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 28.906, -97.859 (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

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: 5266190, 5266191, 5266192, 5266193, 5266194, 5266195, 5266196, 5266197, 5266198, 5266199.