Name: Flash Flooding in Texas, November 22, 2004
Start: 2004-11-22T08:00
End: 2004-11-22T18:00
Location: Texas

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 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: 3

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 Nov 22, 3:11 AM CST, 4 hours 49 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 22, 3:11 AM CST, 4 hours 49 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
311 AM CST MON NOV 22 2004

.DISCUSSION...
HEAVY RAIN THIS MORNING IN THE INTERFACE BETWEEN THE COLD FRONT NEAR
GGG-ACT-SJT LINE AND LEADING EDGE OF WARMER AIR INLAND ALONG THE
COAST. STORMS ARE FORMING DUE TO LOW LEVEL ISENTROPIC WARMING AND
STRONG LIFT IN ADVANCE OF AN UPPER LOW APPROACHING SLOWLY FROM CA.

FF WATCH CONTINUES FOR HILL COUNTRY AND ALONG-EAST OF IH35 CORRIDOR.
THERE IS PLENTY OF FUEL TO WORK WITH...PWAT VALUES ARE HIGH...1.3
WEST TO 1.7 EAST. SFC RIDGE IN OK WILL ANCHOR COLD FRONT IN PLACE
TODAY...PERHAPS EVEN SHOVE IT A FEW MILES SWD. ISENTROPIC LIFTING
WILL PERSIST...WINDS AT/ABOVE 925MB ARE SLY AND WILL REMAIN SO.
ALSO...DUE TO COLD TEMPS ALOFT TODAY...H5 VALUES -13 WEST...LAPSE
RATES ARE STEEP AND CAPES BY AFTN WILL BE IN 1500 RANGE. MENTIONED
BOTH HEAVY RAIN AND SEVERE THRU THIS EVENING.

EVENT SO FAR BEST HANDLED BY GFS. ETA AGAIN TOO DRY IN SC TX AND
SEVERLY UNDERESTIMATING RAINFALL. POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAIN CONTINUES
INTO TUE. SFC LOW WILL FORM BY EARLY TUE IN WRN TX AND BEGIN TO
DRAG A DRY LINE ACROSS SC TX IN THE AFTN. THIS COULD ALSO RESULT IN
SOME SEVERE STORMS AS WELL AS HEAVY RAINFALL.

END OF THIS EVENT APPEARS TO BE TUE EVENING...WITH MUCH COLDER AIR
MOVING INTO SC TX EARLY WED MORNING.  LOWS WILL FALL INTO THE 30S
AND 40S BY THU MORNING. APPEARS AT THIS TIME WE WILL BE GETTING A
BREAK ON THE RAIN...AT LEAST INTO THE HOLIDAY AND WEEKEND.

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
AUSTIN CAMP MABRY              69  62  70  50 /  90  80  70   0
AUSTIN BERGSTROM INTL AIRPORT  69  62  70  48 /  90  80  70   0
DEL RIO INTL AIRPORT           73  60  72  46 /  50  50  30   0
SAN ANTONIO INTL AIRPORT       71  65  70  48 /  90  70  60   0

&&

.EWX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
FFA THRU 4 PM THIS AFTN ALONG AND EAST OF MOUNTAIN HOME TO PEARSALL
LINE.

&&

09/04

In the hours before

Local storm report, Nov 22, 2:55 AM CST, 5 hours 5 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
255 AM CST MON NOV 22 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0253 AM     FLOOD            AUSTIN                  30.31N 97.75W
11/22/2004                   TRAVIS             TX   BROADCAST MEDIA

            NUMEROUS ROADS CLOSED IN AND AROUND THE CITY OF AUSTIN
            DUE TO WATER OVER THE ROADS.

&&

PM

The radar

The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 55 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 14:00 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Bexar

When: November 22, 8:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Bexar County, North Portion
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 29.449, -98.520 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Showers and thunderstorms re-intensified once again along the IH35 corridor, producing generally 1 to 2 inch rainfall from Bexar County northward through Comal and Hays Counties. Widespread 3 to 5 inch totals were reported in the northeast corner of Bexar County with highest rain totals near 8 in the Schertz area. Nearly all rural and county roads in northern Bexar County were closed. At 1500CST, it was reported by Bexar Emergency Management that more than 60 roads remained closed. The city and county reported 160 high water rescues, with as many as 39 in one hour.

Flash Flood, Comal

When: November 22, 8:00 AM CST to 6:00 PM CST
Where: Comal County, Countywide
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 29.808, -98.278 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Showers and thunderstorms re-intensified once again along the IH35 corridor, producing generally 1 to 2 inch rainfall from Bexar County northward through Comal and Hays Counties. Widespread 3 to 4 in totals were reported in the southeastern half of Comal County, with highest amounts near 7 inches in the extreme south part of the county, along the Bexar-Guadalupe-Comal County junction. All secondary roads in southern third of Comal county were reported to have been under water. In fact, so many roads were flooded that public service crews ran out of barricades. Officials reported that approximately two dozen homes had received some flooding damage. Several rescues were reported along FM1863 and FM482. One swift water rescue crew was responding to a vehicle stalled in high water. The driver at first remained with the vehicle, then decided to abandon it and try to get to high ground. She was swept away but managed to catch on to a tree. The rescue team's boat was damaged as it slammed into the tree while moving in the swift current. Two more swift water rescue teams from the South Texas Regional Advisory County for Trauma (STRAC) were dispatched to rescue the three and were able to do so. This event had gone on for nearly 2 hours and the woman was taken to a hospital suffering from hypothermia.

Flash Flood, Hays

When: November 22, 9:00 AM CST to 3:00 PM CST
Where: Hays County, Countywide
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 30.058, -98.031 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Showers and thunderstorms re-intensified once again along the IH35 corridor, producing generally 1 to 2 inch rainfall from Bexar County northward through Comal and Hays Counties. Widespread 3 to 4 in totals were reported in the western half of Hays County from Wimberley to Driftwood. Most county roads were under water through the morning and early afternoon.

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 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history Warnings in Texas, November 2004

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: 5428535, 5428644, 5428645.