Name: Flash Flood in Texas, September 22, 2004
Start: 2004-09-22T21:00
End: 2004-09-22T21:30
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: 1
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 Sep 22, 7:11 PM CST, 1 hour 49 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 22, 7:11 PM CST, 1 hour 49 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
811 PM CDT WED SEP 22 2004

.UPDATE...
ALTHOUGH MOST CONVECTION HAS DIED OFF WITH THE LOSS OF HEATING
THIS EVENING...STORMS CONTG OVER BEXAR IN AN AREA OF GOOD SFC
MOISTURE CONVERGENCE.  EXPECT ISOLD STORMS TO LAST ANOTHER COUPLE
HOURS AS THEY MOVE NORTHWEST AND THEN DIE OFF OVER THE HILL
COUNTRY.  WIDELY SCT SHOWERS WILL AGAIN MOVE INLAND FROM THE COAST
IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS SO WILL KEEP SLGT CHC POPS IN OVERNIGHT.
NO BIG CHANGES ON THE UPDATE EVEN WITH THE FORMATION OF TD IVAN
AS IVANS PROJECTED PATH TO STAY OFF TO THE EAST...HOWEVER WILL
INCREASE POPS 10-20% IN THE EASTERN CWA THU/FRI DUE TO PSBL EFFECTS
FROM IVAN.

&&

.PREV DISCUSSION...
AN UPPER LEVEL TROF MOVING THRU COLORADO AND THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE
CENTERED OVER THE OHIO VALLEY WILL CONTINUE FUNNEL TROPICAL GULF
MOISTURE ACROSS SOUTH TEXAS TONIGHT INTO FRIDAY. THE LOW PRESSURE
AREA OVER THE CENTRAL GULF WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE WESTWARD AND MAY
BECOME BETTER ORGANIZED BEFORE MOVING ONSHORE ALONG THE UPPER TEXAS
COAST THURSDAY AFTERNOON. THE FCST WILL BE BASED ON THE GFS SOLUTION.
THE GFS TAKES THE GULF LOW NORTHWARD THURSDAY AFTERNOON ACROSS
SOUTHEAST TEXAS AND TOWARDS THE ARKLATEX AS THE UPPER TROF OVER
COLORADO EJECTS NORTHEASTWARD. REMNANTS OF THE EASTERLY WAVE WILL
CONTINUE WESTWARD IMPACTING THE UPPER AND MIDDLE TEXAS COAST. WILL
FCST POPS ON THE CONSERVATIVE SIDE FOR THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. FROPA
OVER THE CWFA STILL EXPECTED FRIDAY NIGHT INTO SATURDAY WITH SOME
CONVECTION POSSIBLE IN ADVANCE OF THE FRONT. FRONTAL BOUNDARY
EXPECTED TO SLOWLY SINK SOUTHWARD INTO DEEP SOUTH TEXAS BY TUESDAY OR
WEDNESDAY. WILL CONTINUE WITH SLIGHT CHANCE POPS EARLY NEXT WEEK AS
ANOTHER UPPER TROF SWINGS EASTWARD ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PLAINS.

&&

.EWX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NONE.

&&

01/11/JB

The radar

The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 55 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:00 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Bexar

When: September 22, 9:00 PM CST to 9:30 PM CST
Where: Bexar County, San Antonio
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 29.449, -98.520 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A young girl drowned in a brief flash flood event as she and her grandmother were driving across a culvert that was under construction. Although less than 2 inches of rain had fallen, water swept quickly through the low area, trapping the vehicle. The grandmother left the car and was pulled to safety by residents of the area. The young girl was swept off her feet and washed into a drainage pipe where she drowned.

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Flash Flood, Bexar	2004-09-22	10	Female	Vehicle/Towed Trailer	Direct

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, September 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: 5424918.