Life-Threatening Flooding in Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex Submerges Cars

Eric Zerkel
Published: May 29,2015



 
Storms moved into the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex overnight and dumped several inches of rain on an already over-saturated area, causing major flooding on roadways that submerged vehicles and prompted multiple high water rescues.
Hundreds of motorists were stranded at Loop 12 at Interstate 30 due to high water. In order to clear the stranded vehicles, the Texas Department of Transportation removed the center median. Spokesman Tony Hartzel of the TexasDOT said the section of roadway will be closed for days, or "until it's safe," The Dallas Morning News said.
"A slow-moving band of thunderstorms moved into the Dallas-Fort Worth area from the west overnight, allowing heavy rain to fall over the same areas for a few hours," said weather.com meteorologist Linda Lam.
"A few individual thunderstorm cells that moved into the area from the South also merged with the line of storms increasing rainfall, especially just northeast of Dallas, which enhanced rainfall and led to the dangerous flooding."
(MORE: Latest News On Southern Plains Flooding)

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Shern-Min Chow ✔ @ShernMinKHOU

Looks like #Houstonflood, but it's #DallasFlood. I-30 is a parking lot. Miles Long. See you #KHOU at 4. #Weather

2:03 PM - 29 May 2015

Rainfall totals greater than 6 inches in some areas prompted the National Weather Service to issue a flash flood emergency Friday morning, indicating life-threatening flooding conditions on numerous impassable roads across the area. As of Friday morning, Dallas had already eclipsed its wettest May on record, with 16.07 inches of rain already recorded, according to the National Weather Service.
At the moment, there are no reports of injuries or fatalities, but dangerous situations were reported all across the Metroplex.
In Dallas County, emergency responders have responded to more than 270 weather-related calls, including water rescues, the Dallas Morning News reports.
"It was pretty crazy," Dallas resident Israel Ramos told NBC News. "I was panicking for a good while hoping that it would stop long enough for the water to go down some. I have never seen the street get like that before and I'm stranded right now."
Even police had to be rescued from the high water. A Sachse police officer was diverting traffic when his SUV got stuck in flooding, the Associated Press reported. He was stuck for about two hours; during that time, a dive team tried unsuccessfully to reach him.
Eventually, a rescue helicopter arrived and lifted the officer from the scene, the report added.
An RV park also flooded in Carrolton, Texas, to the northeast of downtown Dallas.
To the southwest, in Johnson County, county emergency management coordinator Jamie Moore said that more than a dozen high water rescues had been conducted by local authorities as of early Friday morning. Moore added that 45 roads were closed across the county.

Most of the heavy rain moved out of the Metroplex by 6 a.m. local time, but with many creeks and rivers across the area threatening to crest above flood stage, the dangerous situation is far from over.