Name: Flash Flood in Texas, July 4, 2002
Start: 2002-07-04T11:30
End: 2002-07-04T15:00
Location: Texas

Where it happened

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.

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: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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 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 Jul 4, 9:45 AM CST, 1 hour 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 4, 9:45 AM CST, 1 hour 45 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
1045 AM CDT THU JUL 4 2002

DANGEROUS FLOODING SITUATION CONTINUES ACROSS THE HILL COUNTRY AND
ADJACENT AREAS OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS.

UPPER LEVEL TROF/SHEAR AXIS REMAINS NEARLY STATIONARY FROM NEAR EL
INDIO TO ABILENE.  RADAR AND SATELLITE LOOPS CLEARLY DEFINE TWO
AREAS OF ROTATION...OVER DEEP SOUTH TEXAS...AND NEAR BROWNWOOD.
ONCE AGAIN THE MCS OVER THE HILL COUNTRY IS WEAKENING THIS
MORNING.  HOWEVER ADDITIONAL SCATTERED SHOWERS ARE DEVELOPING TO THE
SOUTH AND EAST OF THIS MCS AS DAYTIME HEATING INTERACTS WITH THE
TROPICAL AIRMASS.  THIS ACTIVITY WILL STREAM/TRAIN NORTHWARD THIS
AFTERNOON.

THE VORT MAX CURRENTLY LOCATED OVER DEEP SOUTH TEXAS IS FCST BY THE
LATEST MESOETA TO MOVE NORTHWARD THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT.  THE
RESULT WILL BE ANOTHER MCS DEVELOPING IN THE SAME AREA AS WHAT
OCCURRED LAST NIGHT AND THIS MORNING.

UPDATED PRELIM NUMBERS...
AUS 91/75/95/74  34--
SAT 89/75/95/75  542-
DRT 84/76/80/76  8876

.EWX...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT FOR THE HILL
       COUNTRY AND MUCH OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS...GENERALLY WEST OF
       I-35.

13/05

The radar

The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 27 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:31 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Comal

When: July 4, 11:30 AM CST to 3:00 PM CST
Where: Comal County, Countywide
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 29.808, -98.278 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Spotty showers and thunderstorms dropped an additional 2 inches of rain over the county, with totals of up to 7 inches west of New Braunfels and south of Canyon Dam. Flash flooding redeveloped just before noon and continued into the mid afternoon. For the first time in history, Canyon Dam sends water over the spillway. Thousands are evacuated along the banks of the Guadalupe and in the city of New Braunfels.

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 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Texas, July 2002

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: 5312175.