Name: Flash Flood in Texas, July 6, 2002
Start: 2002-07-06T10:00
End: 2002-07-06T12:00
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: 2
Property damage: $100,000
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 San Angelo, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 6, 1:57 AM CST, 8 hours 3 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 6, 1:57 AM CST, 8 hours 3 minutes before

WEST CENTRAL TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX
257 AM CDT SAT JUL 6 2002

TROPICAL AIRMASS REMAINS IN PLACE WITH DEWPOINTS IN THE
70S...BOUNDARIES GALORE...THE SEMI-PERMANENT SHEAR AXIS JUST EAST OF
ABI...AN UPPER LOW OVER NM...UPPER DIFFLUENT AREA OVER MOST OF WEST
TX.  ALL SPELL CONTINUED CHANCES FOR RAIN.

SHEAR AXIS HAS GONE THROUGH ITS NIGHTTIME FLARE UP OVER OUR
NORTHEASTERN COUNTIES...WITH BROWN COUNTY THE TX RAINFALL WINNER
WITH OVER 5-6 INCHES OF RAIN. ACTIVE FLOODING AND RESCUES OCCURRING
AT THIS TIME IN BROWN AND COLEMAN COUNTIES.  THIS FEATURE SHOULD BE
THE FOCUS FOR TSTMS ACROSS THE EASTERN BIG COUNTRY...AND SINCE THE
SYSTEM HAS MOVED A BIT FURTHER NORTH...WILL SHIFT THE FOCUS OF THE
FLASH FLOOD WATCH FURTHER NORTH.  PLAN ON TAKING OUR SOUTHEASTERN
COUNTIES OUT OF THE FF WATCH.  THO IF TSTMS BUILD THIS
AFTERNOON...FLOOD WARNINGS WILL BE NEEDED.

NO BIG CHANCES OVER THE WEEKEND AS RAIN CHANCES ABOUND.  WILL
KEEP LOWEST POPS IN OUR SOUTHWESTERN COUNTIES...WHERE UNFORTUNATELY
LITTLE BENEFICIAL RAIN HAS FALLEN THIS WEEK DESPITE THE ATYPICAL WET
ENVIRONMENT.  IN GENERAL LOWER POPS FOR SOUTH AS SHEAR AXIS AND NM
LOW ENERGY WILL FOCUS BEST RAIN CHANCES IN OUR NORTHERN COUNTIES.

MRF STILL HOLDING FIRM ON PATTERN WITH SFC HIGH OVER THE ROCKIES AND
DECENT RAIN CHANCES THROUGH MON/TUE.  WILL CONTINUE TO SHOW SLOW
DRYING...BY THE END OF THE FORECAST PERIOD...MUCH MORE TYPICAL
WEATHER TAKES HOLD WITH NO REAL CHANCE OF RAIN AND TEMPS 95-100 BY
LATE IN THE WEEK.

CCF PRELIMS...

ABI 084/070/088/070 8542
SJT 090/070/093/070 4442
JCT 090/070/093/070 4332

.SJT...FLASH FLOOD WATCH TODAY FOR MCCULLOCH...SAN SABA...
BROWN...COLEMAN...RUNNELS...CALLAHAN...TAYLOR...JONES...SHACKELFORD
...HASKELL AND THROCKMORTON COUNTIES.

25

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 6, 5:00 AM CST, 5 hours before

TXZ049-054-065-066-071>073-076>078-098-099-113-114-127-128-139-140-
154-155-168>170-061500-

WEST CENTRAL TEXAS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX
600 AM CDT SAT JUL 6 2002

...DANGEROUS FLOODING RAINS ACROSS THE BIG COUNTRY AND HEARTLAND
TODAY...

THE UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE THAT PRODUCE THE EXTREME FLOODING IN
CENTRAL TEXAS HAS MOVED OVER THE BIG COUNTRY. FLOODING RAINS WERE
OCCURRING IN THE BIG COUNTRY THIS MORNING...WITH RAINFALL ESTIMATES
OVER 10 INCHES IN NORTHERN COLEMAN AND BROWN COUNTIES.  OVER 5
INCHES OF RAIN FELL IN PORTIONS OF ABILENE. ABILENE MAY SEE UP TO 3
INCHES OF ADDITIONAL RAINFALL. A FEW OTHER AREAS IN THE BIG COUNTY
AND HEARTLAND MAY SEE AN ADDITIONAL 5 TO 10 INCHES OF RAINFALL.

RIVER FLOODING MAY BE A PROBLEM TODAY OVER THE BRAZOS RIVER...AND
OVER JIM NED CREEK AND PECAN BAYOU IN BROWN AND COLEMAN COUNTIES.
LAKE BROWNWOOD IS A FOOT OVER ITS SPILLWAY. ADDITIONAL RAINFALL MAY
PRODUCE FLOODING DOWNSTREAM. IF THE RAINS CONTINUE...FLOODING IS
POSSIBLE IN THE BROWNWOOD AREA LATER THIS WEEKEND. A FLASH FLOOD
WATCH IS IN EFFECT ALONG ALONG NORTH OF A
WINTERS...COLEMAN...BROWNWOOD LINE TODAY.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PLEASE SEE STATEMENTS AND OUTLOOKS FROM
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICES ACROSS TEXAS...OKLAHOMA...AND NEW
MEXICO.

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Tom Green

When: July 6, 10:00 AM CST to 12:00 PM CST
Where: Tom Green County, Countywide
Injuries: 2 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $100,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 31.404, -100.462 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Thunderstorms developed over Tom Green County on the evening of the 6th. These thunderstorms dropped around 4 inches of rain in a short amount of time. Several low water crossings throughout the county became flooded. A couple and their son were swept into Live Oak Creek as they tried to navigate a flooded roadway. They were trapped for about one and half hours until help finally arrived. The couple received minor injuries as a result, and lost most of their belongings. In San Angelo many water rescues were performed as streets became flooded.

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: 5307100.