Street Flooding Rampant Throughout Kingwood, Streams Near Capacity
Had Harris County Flood Control not recently excavated parts of Bens Branch and Taylor Gully, both streams would have likely come out of their banks today. The skies opened up and dumped 4.98 inches on my rain gage in a little more than two hours. That’s about a 10-year rain according to the new Atlas 14 statistics below.
Photos from Around Kingwood
At 5 pm both streams were near the tops of their banks but well within them. That might not have been the case just a couple months ago before the flood control district widened and deepened them to restore their original conveyance. Parts of Ben’s Branch were down to a two year level of service. That’s means they would flood in a two-year rain…obviously less than today’s.
Forecast for Remainder of Evening
As of 5:30 pm, Jeff Lindner, Harris County Meteorologist said, “Heavy rainfall continues to progress WSW across the area while a second area of heavy rainfall is moving SE across western Montgomery, N Waller, and NW Harris County. This area to the northwest is the remains of a line of thunderstorms from central Texas.”
“Rainfall amounts have averaged 2-3 inches over the northern half of Harris County with 4-6 inches over the Humble, Kingwood, Crosby, and Huffman areas,” said Lindner. “Significant street flooding has occurred over the northeast and northern portions of the county into Liberty and Montgomery Counties. While the activity is continuing to progress through the area, recent radar and HCFCD gage rainfall sensors indicate the hourly rainfall rates have weakened into the .50-1.5 inch range which is significantly lower than the 3-4 inches per hour recorded earlier this afternoon.”
“Street flooding will continue into the early evening hours and slowly subside over the area, while creeks and bayous continue to respond to the heavy rainfall. At this time all creeks and bayous are well within banks.”
More Yet to Come
Heavy rainfalls like this afternoon’s should continue through Thursday when the chances start to diminish through the weekend. Runoff should increase as grounds are now thoroughly saturated. Stay cautious. I almost drove into the water that rose to the bumper of that semi above. It didn’t look that deep but obviously could have stalled my Tahoe. Remember, if water gets over your tailpipe, it will cause your engine to stall. Game over.
Posted by Bob Rehak on May 17, 2021 based on personal observation and information supplied by HCFCD, Jeff Miller, Paul Campbell, and Nicole Black-Rudolph
1357 Days since Hurricane Harvey
