Flash Flooding in Texas, July 6 to 8, 2002

Numerous showers and thunderstorms developed over Brown County just after midnight on the 6th. These thunderstorms remained nearly stationary through much of the night producing 12 to 14 inch rainfalls. This is in combination to the 6 to 8 inches of rain that had fallen in the days preceding the flood. The rain in Brown County fell directly into the catchments of the Jim Ned Creek, and Pecan Bayou, which empty into Lake Brownwood. Lake Brownwood crested on Sunday morning of the 7th, 7.7 feet over its spillway. Major flooding in Brownwood begins around 6 feet over the spillway. The flooded Pecan Bayou turned much of the Brownwood business district into a giant lake. Commerce Street in Brownwood was flooded with waist deep water. In Brownwood and Early, there were 54 homes with major damage, and 6 with minor damage. At Lake Brownwood there were 110 homes with major damage and 40 with minor damage.

Rains of 10 to 12 inches fell over Coleman County in the early morning hours of the 6th. This is in addition to the 8 to 10 inches that had fallen over the area in the days leading up to this flood. The area along Jim Ned Creek and Lake Coleman were hit especially hard. As the Coleman County police department was performing a water rescue on Jim Need Creek near Burkett, they were quoted saying, "a wall of water is flowing down Jim Need Creek." Several roads and fences were damaged in the county, crops ruined and livestock missing. In the Lake Coleman area, there were four homes with major damage and 2 homes with minor damage.

Portions of Callhan County received as much as 12 inches of rain in the early morning hours of the 6th. This resulted in flooding throughout the county, however the southern portion of the county took the brunt of the flooding, where one home received major damage and two others received minor damage. The damages to the counties road system was significant with $400,000 in damages to the southern portion of the county alone.

The tropical wave that had plagued south central Texas over the past several days moved to the north on the morning of the 6th. Thunderstorms moved into Taylor county around 3 AM. Rainfall rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour produced rainfall amounts of up to 12 inches in the southern portions of the county. A fire station on the south side of Abilene reported 5.2 inches of rain in less than 2 hours. The automated weather station at the Abilene airport reported 4 inches in 2 hours. This rainfall produced flooding of low water crossings and some creek flooding during the morning in Abilene. Worse flooding was yet to come however, as the heaviest rains occurred to the south of Abilene, in the Buffalo Gap, Tuscola, Ovalo and Lake Abilene areas. Water from these areas flowed in the Elm Creek, Cat Claw Creek, and Ceader Creek, then into the city of Abilene. Cat Claw Creek, and Elm Creek crested at record levels on the evening of the 6th. The flood waters did not recede significantly until the evening of the 7th. Around 1000 residents had to evacuate to higher ground. The flooding throughout the county resulted in significant property damage with 31 homes destroyed, 339 receiving major damage, and 322 received minor damage.

Heavy rains of 2 to 4 inches flooded some low water crossings over the southern portion of the county. No other damages were reported from the flooding.

Shackelford County was on the northern fringes of an area of very heavy rains. There was some significant street flooding reported in Albany for a few hours.

Jones County received very heavy rains on the morning of the 6th. These rains resulted in some flooding in the Hamlin and Anson areas. Three homes were flooded, but many county roads were washed out. A news paper article stated that around 450 miles of road were damaged in some way by the flooding. The most severe damage was in the northwest portion of the county.

Heavy rains of 2 to 5 inches flooded several roads in the eastern portion of Fisher County on the morning of the 6th. There was no damage reported as a result of the flooding.

Lake Sweetwater received about 4 inches of rain on the morning of the 6th. This resulted in a few road closures in the northern portions of the county. A few low water crossings in Sweetwater were flooded as well.