Published: May 27,2015
Officials in parts of Texas are warning that flooding could last for weeks in the wake of unprecedented amounts of May rainfall. Those rainfall totals, which have now topped 20 inches since May 1 at several locations, will climb still higher this week as thunderstorms dump even more rainfall on an already water-logged region.
More than 10 inches of rain fell in parts of Houston Monday night, causing widespread flash flooding in the city. A flash flood emergency was issued by the National Weather Service for much of the night.
Some 48 hours earlier, catastrophic flash flooding overnight Saturday into early Sunday flooded hundreds of homes in Hays County, Texas, including areas near Wimberley and San Marcos.
(RECAP: Catastrophic Flash Flooding Texas, Oklahoma | Jaw-Dropping Houston Flood Images)
The National Weather Service in Corpus Christi, Texas, says flooding is likely to continue for weeks along the Nueces River just west of Corpus Christi. The flooding is affecting a stretch downstream of the Wesley Seale Dam, which impounds Lake Corpus Christi.
That reservoir has reached its full capacity due to widespread heavy rainfall upstream across South Texas this month. In a disaster declaration issued Thursday, Nueces County Judge Loyd Neal said water releases from the dam began this past weekend "in order to prevent damage to [the dam] and to avoid uncontrolled downstream impacts." About 100 homes have already been cut off by floodwaters, and hundreds of homes are at risk of flooding in the days ahead.
Lake Texoma, a reservoir impounding the Red River on the Texas-Oklahoma border, has also reached and exceeded its full capacity. The water was flowing over the spillway at the Denison Dam Sunday morning, as the dam's floodgates alone have not been able to release water fast enough to keep up with inflow from the lake's drainage basin, which encompasses more than 30,000 square miles.
River Forecast: Wichita River at Wichita Falls, Texas
The rising Wichita River prompted evacuations of parts of the east side of Wichita Falls, Texas last Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Some good news arrived Saturday, as heavy rain remained well to the west and north of the city, and the river crested about 2 feet lower than original forecasts and about 3 feet below the late June 2007 record.
More than 170 locations in the central and southern Plains are currently reporting river flooding, the majority of which are in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, eastern Kansas and Missouri.
Many cities have already clinched a top five wettest May in their weather records. At least six locations, including Wichita Falls, Oklahoma City and Corpus Christi, have now recorded their wettest May (or month) on record.
(FLOOD RECAPS: San Angelo, Texas | Nebraska | North Texas | Houston Area | Oklahoma City | Manhattan, Kansas)
Rounds of thunderstorms, with locally heavy rain at times, will continue in the Southern Plains this week, bringing the threat of additional flash flooding and worsening river flooding.
(MORE: More Rain Ahead)
In Pursuit of May Rainfall Records
Estimated Rainfall in May 2015
From Colorado and Nebraska to Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas, several cities have already seen one of their wettest Mays on record. Here's a look at where things stand right now:
Austin (Camp Mabry), Texas – Extremely heavy rainfall Monday dumped 5.20 inches of rain at Camp Mabry, lifting Austin to its wettest May on record. The rain tally is 16.72 inches of rain through May 26, making it by far the wettest May on record, topping the old record of 14.10 inches in May 1895. It's also the third wettest month on record. September 1921, with 20.78 inches, leads the pack for the city's wettest month.
Fort Smith, Arkansas – This western Arkansas city has now recorded its wettest month in history with 18.33 inches of rain through May 26. This broke the previous record of 15.02 inches in June 1945. Several days ago, Fort Smith surpassed its May record of 13.67 inches from 1943.
Oklahoma City – Oklahoma's capital reached a month-to-date total of 14.53 inches at 5:56 p.m. CDT Saturday, breaking its all-time May rainfall record of 14.52 inches in 2013. Only 21 minutes later, the city broke its June 1989 record of 14.66 inches to become the wettest month in Oklahoma City history. An extremely heavy downpour followed with more than 2 inches of rain.
Oklahoma's new all-time record monthly rainfall total cracked the 19-inch mark Wednesday, reaching 19.12 inches through May 27. This is more than the average precipitation over a five-month period from March through July (18.68 inches).
Wichita Falls, Texas – May 2015 became the wettest month on record in this northern Texas city early Friday afternoon, May 22, when the city's month-to-date total reached 13.33 inches as of 1:11 p.m. CDT. That broke the record for May and for any month on the calendar, both set in May 1982 with 13.22 inches. Through May 26, the May total has reached 14.53 inches.
Corpus Christi, Texas – Rainfall in May 2015 is 13.41 inches through May 26, which is well beyond the previous May record of 10.44 inches that was set in 1941. A total of 4.56 inches fell on Thursday to clinch the record. Amazingly, just nine days prior, exactly 4.56 inches of rain also fell in the city. May 12 and May 21 are now tied as the third-wettest May days in the city's weather records.
According to weather.com senior meteorologist Nick Wiltgen, May 2015 now exceeds Corpus Christi's total rainfall for the entire drought-parched year of 2011, which was only 12.06 inches.
Lubbock, Texas – 8.41 inches of rain has fallen through May 26, making it Lubbock's second-wettest May on record. The total would have to rise to 12.69 inches to claim the title for the wettest May. According to the National Weather Service, the last time it rained 8 inches or more in a month in Lubbock was September 2008 with 8.70 inches.
Amarillo, Texas – 9.26 inches of rain has fallen through May 26, making it the second-wettest May on record. The all-time record is 9.81 inches in May 1951.
Houston, Texas – 13.59 inches of rain has fallen through 10 p.m. May 27 at Bush Intercontinental Airport on the city's north side, pushing it to fifth place among the city's wettest Mays. The record wet May there is 15.87 inches in 1907.
Lincoln, Nebraska – 10.83 inches of rain has fallen through May 26, ranking as the wettest May in the Nebraska capital, topping the previous wettest May record of 10.72 inches set in 1903.
Colorado Springs, Colorado – 7.66 inches of rain at Colorado Springs Municipal Airport through May 26 ranks as the second-wettest May on record. The wettest May was in 1935 when 8.10 inches was recorded. Interestingly, several co-operative and volunteer observation sites only a few miles west of the airport have picked up 10 to 12 inches of rain this month.
Of the first 27 days of May, 21 have had measurable precipitation (.01 inch or greater) at the Colorado Springs airport; that is an all-time record. Five other days have had a trace of precipitation, and only one has been completely dry.
Pueblo, Colorado – A total of 5.17 inches of rain has fallen through 9 p.m. May 27, making it the second wettest May on record. The wettest May was in 1957 when 5.43 inches was measured.
Tulsa, Oklahoma – The city's May total is 12.09 inches through May 26, making it the second-wettest May on record. The record of 18.00 inches in May 1943 will be a tough one to beat.
Wichita, Kansas – The largest city in Kansas topped the 10-inch mark Saturday thanks to heavy rainfall. Through May 26, the city's month-to-date total was 11.18 inches, making it the third-wettest May on record. The standing record for May is 13.14 inches in 2008.
Every day since May 5 – that's 21 straight days as of this writing – has brought at least 4 inches of rainfall to at least one location in the state of Texas, according to CoCoRaHS, the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network. At least 100 of the volunteer network's 1,699 reporting sites in Texas have recorded at least 10 inches of rain this month. The wettest of all has been Pottsboro, near Lake Texoma along the Oklahoma-Texas border with a total of 22.70 inches through May 26.
Oklahoma has also taken a drenching this month, with month-to-date totals topping 10 inches across much of the southern half of the state. One CoCoRaHS site northeast of Norman has reported 25.82 inches of rain since May 1.
Among other states in the May rainy zone, top month-to-date totals by state include 19.75 inches near Uniontown in northwest Arkansas; 16.42 inches near Ruston in northern Louisiana; 13.73 inches in the Ivywild neighborhood of Colorado Springs, Colorado; 12.85 inches near Fairbury in southeast Nebraska; 14.33 inches southeast of Topeka, Kansas; and 12.87 inches in Plattsburgh, Missouri near Kansas City.
More rain is possible through this week which will add to the record rainfall totals. There is hope that a pattern change may be on the way for early June.
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