April 10th Storm Dumps 12-17 Inches in 12 Hours East of Houston

The April 10th storm that swept through Houston during the early morning hours dumped amazing amounts of rainfall just east of here.

A report received today from Harris County Meteorologist Jeff Lindner says that the April 10th storm dumped 12-17 inches of rain in a 12 hour period in a swatch across East Texas. The result: widespread, catastrophic flooding in parts of Newton, Jasper, Hardin, and Tyler Counties.

A peak total of 17.68 inches was recorded near Kirbyville, TX. Lindner characterized the totals as “insanely high.” In fact, NOAA’s Atlas 14 rainfall chart for Kirbyville lists a 12-hour/17-inch rainfall as a 1000-year event.

*NOAA’s Atlas 14 Rainfall Probability Statistics for Kirbyville, TX area.*

Late yesterday morning, Weather.com reported that a Disaster Declaration had been issued for Jasper County, Texas. Officials there said that multiple people were rescued from both homes and vehicles due to flooding in the area. “The city of Kirbyville remains underwater.”

April 10th Storm Rivaled Tax Day Storm

The squall line which started near the Rio Grande around 9:30 pm Monday evening traveled some 800 miles reaching the FL panhandle producing wind damage and tornadoes along much of the path.

According to Lindner, “This should serve as a reminder that when the flash flood ingredients are in place around here, it can rain, and rain a lot, in a very short period of time.”

Some 12-hour rainfall totals were near those of the April 2016 (Tax Day) Storm. It is worth noting that yesterday’s event took place at nearly the same time of year.

The flash flooding developed along a stalled low-level convergence boundary. An influx of tropical moisture and repeat cell training anchored on the boundary for much of the night fed the high totals.

“This was a classic meso-scale flash-flood event common along the Gulf coast,” said Lindner.

High resolution computer models suggested the heaviest rainfall would occur over central Louisiana. So this caught many forecasters off guard.

Tornadoes, Too

The April 10th storm also produced several tornados including one that briefly touched down south of the Katy Freeway inside of SH99.

EF-1 tornado with maximum wind speeds of 90mph touched down around 2:45 am just west of Mason Rd south of Kingsland. It tracked generally eastward toward Fry Rd.

Damage along the east side of Mason Rd was consistent with low-end EF-1 rating. It included lifting and movement of vehicles in a parking lot, the complete failure and collapse of a Tire Shop, blow-out of windows, and failure of roofing on a nearby strip center.

The storm also lofted a commercial AC unit on the top of the strip center and dumped it in the parking lot.

Wind damage continued eastward along and south of Cimarron Pkwy toward Fry Rd.

The wind snapped and uprooted numerous trees through this area and blew down several fences. A corridor of damage continued eastward, but there was little evidence of a full fledged tornado at that point.

Winds estimates in the residential areas between Mason and Fry Rd were on the order of 65-75mph – an EF-0 rating.

Lindner says that these types of tornadoes are common along the leading edge of intense squall lines. Bows or “kinks” develop in the line, enhancing low-level rotation, which results in quick, short-lived, weak tornados.

The path lasted 1.7 miles and width ranged from 300 to 400 yards.

The maximum intensity reached EF-1 (90mph) on east side of Mason Road.