In the image below, note how much higher the rainfall totals are near the red line compared to areas farther away. Most upstream areas received less than an inch or two, limiting the amount that traveled downstream.
Red line indicated path of supercells that tracked across the center of the county last weekend. Note how highest rainfall totals parallel line.
Heavy But Not Harvey
If you were under one of those supercells, you probably received 5-8 inches of rain between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning – a little more than a 12-hour time span. Consulting NOAA’s Atlas-14 Rainfall Probability table for this area, you can see that those totals correspond to 2- to 10-year storms. Heavy! But not Harvey!
NOAA’s Atlas-14 rainfall probabilities for the Lake Houston Area
Storms Tracked Perpendicular to Most Watersheds
In Harris County most watersheds track from NW to SE. But the storms tracked perpendicular to that. That limited the amount of water dumped in most watersheds. It might have been very different had the storms tracked parallel with bayous.
Here was the channel status report from Harris County Flood Control on Sunday shortly after noon. It shows that virtually all channels were well within their banks. Only the gage at Luce Bayou and SH321 in Liberty County indicated flooding was a possibility near Lake Houston (warning triangle in upper right).
Despite receiving the highest rainfall total in the area (8.56 inches)…
…Luce Bayou never did come out of its banks at that location. See below. As of today, Luce is falling.
Halls Bayou near 45 briefly came out of its banks, but no structures were reported flooded. Same for Greens Bayou at 59. Water briefly got up to the feeder road there.
Brickhouse Gully, White Oak and Buffalo Bayous were also briefly in danger of coming out of banks in places, but receded quickly according to a HCFCD source. They were all back in banks before I could get there with a camera.
Photos of Area Streams and Bayous
At the East Fork and FM1485, I found a high water caution sign on the road Sunday afternoon. But again, the river was well within its banks. The closest it came to flooding was 2 feet from the top of bank three hours before I took this photo.
Here’s how some other local streams and channels fared in the heavy weekend rains.
A tributary channel of Bens Branch between Woodridge Forest and Northpark Drive next to Kingwood Park High School.That cleared area is the new Preserve at Woodridge that will offer 660 SF homes.
Bens Branch looking E (downstream toward Woodland Hills Drive. CVS on Northpark Drive (left). This was the highest part of the highest stream I found.Notice how it’s almost coming out on the left.
St. Martha’s School Parking lot flooded again a little farther downstream on Bens Branch.
Looking west at Bens Branch toward West Lake Houston Parkway. Note debris line on the leftbank in the sun.
The debris line in Taylor Gully shows water never got more than halfway up the bank. Looking upstream from the Maple Bend bridge.
Kingwood Diversion Ditch north of Walnut Lane in distance just hours after tornado ripped through area.
Confluence of East Fork San Jacinto (right) and Caney Creek (left). Note docks still above water on right.
No Reports of Flooded Structures in Harris County
As of 8 PM Monday, Harris County Flood Control had not received any reports of structures flooding from the heavy weekend rains.
Storms of this magnitude are common in Houston, but not for January. Jeff Lindner, Harris County’s meteorologist remembered two in the last decade.
“We had comparable totals on 1-9-2012 in the Brays Bayou watershed (6.6 inches peak in 12 hours). On 1-18-2017, we also had several 4-7 inch gage readings on Brays and 7.0 inches in 12 hours on Lower White Oak Bayou.”
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/20220109-DJI_0398.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=17991200adminadmin2022-01-10 19:53:002022-01-10 20:15:14Despite Heavy Weekend Rains, Most Area Channels and Streams Stayed Within Banks
Early Sunday morning on January 9, 2022, an EF-1 tornado touched down along the Kingwood Diversion Ditch between Hamblen and Kingwood Drive. It damaged trees and homes on both sides of the ditch for several blocks. By early afternoon, tree crews were swarming over the area, making the streets barely passable.
Tornado or Just Strong Winds?
I asked one of the crews if they were sure a tornado caused the damage. They said yes, based on the type of damage they saw. The tops of trees had been twisted off like screw caps. See photos below taken on Sunday afternoon after the storm cleared out.
Note two garages and corner of one home damaged by toppled trees east of ditch.
While some trees were uprooted, the vast majority of the damage involved “topped trees.” Had straight line winds been the cause, you would see more uprooted trees. The damage would have been more widespread. And the trees would have been pushed down in a uniform direction rather than scattered like pick-up sticks.
Looking south along Kingwood Diversion Ditch. Note eight topped trees left of the ditch and one of the tops hanging from a wire over the ditch.
West of ditch on Forest Cove side. Note damaged garages, back corner of home, and trees still hanging from wires.
Close up of topped tree and blown-over fence.
Portion of fallen tree thrown through fence by winds.
Forlorn homeowner on crushed gable. “Where do I go from here?”
ABC-13 confirmed the strength of the tornado on its evening news tonight. According to ABC, the tornado came through at approximately 1:30 AM. According to residents I spoke to, the noise was deafening and pets started acting nervous about that time.
Dogs Knew Before You Did
This article from Psychology Today explains that dogs’ hearing is four times more sensitive than humans’. That means they can hear things four times farther away – sooner than we can. Canine hearing also picks up higher pitched sounds. If the noise sounds deafening to you, think how painful it must be for your pooch.
I live near Kingwood High School two miles away. At precisely 1:30, my dog started whimpering, trembling, and tried to jump in bed with me.
Storm Totals Compared to Record and Climate Norm
For the record, the storm that started Saturday afternoon and ended early Sunday morning dumped about 4.96 inches in my rain gage. Jeff Miller, an Elm Grove resident said he had 5.5 inches in his.
These are unusually high amounts for January. The all time record for January 8 was 5.89 inches, set in 1891, 130 years ago! Houston usually receives 3.4 inches for the whole month of January. Plum Grove on the East Fork received 6.88 inches in this storm – more than double the monthly average for the Houston area. Luce Bayou on 321 in Liberty County received an incredible 8.56 inches in the storm. Had either of those locations been the official recording station, this storm would have gone down in history.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/9/2022
1594 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/20220109-DJI_0404.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=18001200adminadmin2022-01-09 19:55:532022-01-10 20:44:59Pics of Tornado Damage in Kingwood/Forest Cove
After heavy rains and several tornados swept through the area Saturday afternoon, many streets in Plum Grove are under water tonight.
Photo posted on Facebook by Plum Grove Volunteer Fire Department
Warning from Plum Grove VFD
The Plum Grove Volunteer Fire Department reports that: “We are receiving multiple reports of several roads flooding in the area.
FM 1010 near the Valero
Plum Grove Road near Road 5000
Multiple areas of Paul Campbell Loop
“Plum Grove VFD is currently assisting the city with placing road warning signs with out our high water vehicle. Please avoid driving in the weather if possible. Do not drive through high water areas where you can not clearly see the roadway. Do not chance swift moving water. Remember it only takes a few inches of fast moving water to sweep you or your vehicle off the road. Please be safe.”
The gage at FM2090 and the San Jacinto East Fork shows that Plum Grove received 5.96 inches of rain, the highest total in the area, by far. To put that amount in perspective, it’s only a half inch less than Plum Grove received on May 7, 2019, which caused widespread flooding.
Gage readings in NE Houston area at 9PM on 1/8/2022. 5.96 inches near Liberty/Montgomery County Line is in Plum Grove on FM2090 at the San Jacinto East Fork.From HarrisCounty Flood Warning System.
Radar as of 12am Sunday 1/9/22 shows more heavy rain headed toward Plum Grove. These storms are dumping up to 4.5 inches per hour on west and central Harris County.
All Channels Still within Banks At This Hour
It’s not clear how many homes have been affected. Pam and Jack Arnold, whose home near the East Fork was cut off for three days last Spring, say that their property still has not flooded at this hour but that the river is still rising. They are watching it closely. Pam says, “We have everything loaded to move up the road, but we could’t get out of Plum Grove if we tried right now.”
I’ll try to get up there tomorrow morning to get pictures. It’s not safe now.
Ironically, in Splendora at Peach Creek, just four miles west, the gage on FM2090 recorded only 2 inches of rain – one third the amount in Plum Grove. The Harris County Flood Warning System shows that all channels in the region are currently within their banks. Today’s rains, at this point, seem to have caused primarily street flooding.
Forecast from Harris County Flood Control
Jeff Lindner, Harris County’s Meteorologist, reported at 11:30 PM that widespread rainfall will continue across the area tonight bringing another inch of rain. However, strong lines of thunderstorms are training across the area. “Additional rainfall amounts of 1-2 inches with isolated totals of 3-4 inches will be possible within this line tonight. The main threat will be street flooding, but rises on area watersheds will be possible.”
Lindner warns that the East Fork of the San Jacinto River is rising rapidly and may reach bankfull (flood stage) at FM 1485 tonight and downstream to Lake Houston. Flooding near the river will be possible and mostly limited to low lying roads.
Luce Bayou is also rising in central Liberty County and run-off from both middle and upper Luce and Tarkington Bayou will route downstream toward Lake Houston tonight and Sunday. Rises are likely near FM 2100 in NE Harris County.
At 1 am on Sunday morning 1/9/22, Lindner reported on the training supercell thunderstorms shown above. “They are producing up to 4.5 inches of rainfall per hour. Significant street flooding is likely. Rapid rises on the smaller channels are likely.”
Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/8/2022, updated at 1 am 1/9/22 based on information from Scott Engle of the Montgomery County Police Reporterand Harris County Flood Control.
1593 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/20220108-Rainfall-9PM.jpg?fit=1200%2C794&ssl=17941200adminadmin2022-01-08 21:41:342022-01-09 01:11:55Plum Grove Flooding, Many Streets Cut Off
Despite Heavy Weekend Rains, Most Area Channels and Streams Stayed Within Banks
Despite heavy weekend rains, with a few exceptions, streams and channels stayed within their banks. There are several possible explanations.
Rainfall Map of Heavy Weekend Rains
In the image below, note how much higher the rainfall totals are near the red line compared to areas farther away. Most upstream areas received less than an inch or two, limiting the amount that traveled downstream.
Heavy But Not Harvey
If you were under one of those supercells, you probably received 5-8 inches of rain between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning – a little more than a 12-hour time span. Consulting NOAA’s Atlas-14 Rainfall Probability table for this area, you can see that those totals correspond to 2- to 10-year storms. Heavy! But not Harvey!
Storms Tracked Perpendicular to Most Watersheds
In Harris County most watersheds track from NW to SE. But the storms tracked perpendicular to that. That limited the amount of water dumped in most watersheds. It might have been very different had the storms tracked parallel with bayous.
Here was the channel status report from Harris County Flood Control on Sunday shortly after noon. It shows that virtually all channels were well within their banks. Only the gage at Luce Bayou and SH321 in Liberty County indicated flooding was a possibility near Lake Houston (warning triangle in upper right).
Despite receiving the highest rainfall total in the area (8.56 inches)…
…Luce Bayou never did come out of its banks at that location. See below. As of today, Luce is falling.
Halls Bayou near 45 briefly came out of its banks, but no structures were reported flooded. Same for Greens Bayou at 59. Water briefly got up to the feeder road there.
Brickhouse Gully, White Oak and Buffalo Bayous were also briefly in danger of coming out of banks in places, but receded quickly according to a HCFCD source. They were all back in banks before I could get there with a camera.
Photos of Area Streams and Bayous
At the East Fork and FM1485, I found a high water caution sign on the road Sunday afternoon. But again, the river was well within its banks. The closest it came to flooding was 2 feet from the top of bank three hours before I took this photo.
Here’s how some other local streams and channels fared in the heavy weekend rains.
No Reports of Flooded Structures in Harris County
As of 8 PM Monday, Harris County Flood Control had not received any reports of structures flooding from the heavy weekend rains.
Storms of this magnitude are common in Houston, but not for January. Jeff Lindner, Harris County’s meteorologist remembered two in the last decade.
“We had comparable totals on 1-9-2012 in the Brays Bayou watershed (6.6 inches peak in 12 hours). On 1-18-2017, we also had several 4-7 inch gage readings on Brays and 7.0 inches in 12 hours on Lower White Oak Bayou.”
For now, most Harris County residents can chalk this one up in the “close-call” column. But let’s remember that people in Plum Grove DID flood. And pray for the tornado victims in Humble, Kingwood and Forest Cove.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/10/2021
1595 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Pics of Tornado Damage in Kingwood/Forest Cove
Early Sunday morning on January 9, 2022, an EF-1 tornado touched down along the Kingwood Diversion Ditch between Hamblen and Kingwood Drive. It damaged trees and homes on both sides of the ditch for several blocks. By early afternoon, tree crews were swarming over the area, making the streets barely passable.
Tornado or Just Strong Winds?
I asked one of the crews if they were sure a tornado caused the damage. They said yes, based on the type of damage they saw. The tops of trees had been twisted off like screw caps. See photos below taken on Sunday afternoon after the storm cleared out.
While some trees were uprooted, the vast majority of the damage involved “topped trees.” Had straight line winds been the cause, you would see more uprooted trees. The damage would have been more widespread. And the trees would have been pushed down in a uniform direction rather than scattered like pick-up sticks.
ABC-13 confirmed the strength of the tornado on its evening news tonight. According to ABC, the tornado came through at approximately 1:30 AM. According to residents I spoke to, the noise was deafening and pets started acting nervous about that time.
Dogs Knew Before You Did
This article from Psychology Today explains that dogs’ hearing is four times more sensitive than humans’. That means they can hear things four times farther away – sooner than we can. Canine hearing also picks up higher pitched sounds. If the noise sounds deafening to you, think how painful it must be for your pooch.
I live near Kingwood High School two miles away. At precisely 1:30, my dog started whimpering, trembling, and tried to jump in bed with me.
Storm Totals Compared to Record and Climate Norm
For the record, the storm that started Saturday afternoon and ended early Sunday morning dumped about 4.96 inches in my rain gage. Jeff Miller, an Elm Grove resident said he had 5.5 inches in his.
These are unusually high amounts for January. The all time record for January 8 was 5.89 inches, set in 1891, 130 years ago! Houston usually receives 3.4 inches for the whole month of January. Plum Grove on the East Fork received 6.88 inches in this storm – more than double the monthly average for the Houston area. Luce Bayou on 321 in Liberty County received an incredible 8.56 inches in the storm. Had either of those locations been the official recording station, this storm would have gone down in history.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/9/2022
1594 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Plum Grove Flooding, Many Streets Cut Off
After heavy rains and several tornados swept through the area Saturday afternoon, many streets in Plum Grove are under water tonight.
Warning from Plum Grove VFD
The Plum Grove Volunteer Fire Department reports that: “We are receiving multiple reports of several roads flooding in the area.
“Plum Grove VFD is currently assisting the city with placing road warning signs with out our high water vehicle. Please avoid driving in the weather if possible. Do not drive through high water areas where you can not clearly see the roadway. Do not chance swift moving water. Remember it only takes a few inches of fast moving water to sweep you or your vehicle off the road. Please be safe.”
The gage at FM2090 and the San Jacinto East Fork shows that Plum Grove received 5.96 inches of rain, the highest total in the area, by far. To put that amount in perspective, it’s only a half inch less than Plum Grove received on May 7, 2019, which caused widespread flooding.
All Channels Still within Banks At This Hour
It’s not clear how many homes have been affected. Pam and Jack Arnold, whose home near the East Fork was cut off for three days last Spring, say that their property still has not flooded at this hour but that the river is still rising. They are watching it closely. Pam says, “We have everything loaded to move up the road, but we could’t get out of Plum Grove if we tried right now.”
I’ll try to get up there tomorrow morning to get pictures. It’s not safe now.
Ironically, in Splendora at Peach Creek, just four miles west, the gage on FM2090 recorded only 2 inches of rain – one third the amount in Plum Grove. The Harris County Flood Warning System shows that all channels in the region are currently within their banks. Today’s rains, at this point, seem to have caused primarily street flooding.
Forecast from Harris County Flood Control
Jeff Lindner, Harris County’s Meteorologist, reported at 11:30 PM that widespread rainfall will continue across the area tonight bringing another inch of rain. However, strong lines of thunderstorms are training across the area. “Additional rainfall amounts of 1-2 inches with isolated totals of 3-4 inches will be possible within this line tonight. The main threat will be street flooding, but rises on area watersheds will be possible.”
Lindner warns that the East Fork of the San Jacinto River is rising rapidly and may reach bankfull (flood stage) at FM 1485 tonight and downstream to Lake Houston. Flooding near the river will be possible and mostly limited to low lying roads.
Luce Bayou is also rising in central Liberty County and run-off from both middle and upper Luce and Tarkington Bayou will route downstream toward Lake Houston tonight and Sunday. Rises are likely near FM 2100 in NE Harris County.
At 1 am on Sunday morning 1/9/22, Lindner reported on the training supercell thunderstorms shown above. “They are producing up to 4.5 inches of rainfall per hour. Significant street flooding is likely. Rapid rises on the smaller channels are likely.”
Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/8/2022, updated at 1 am 1/9/22 based on information from Scott Engle of the Montgomery County Police Reporter and Harris County Flood Control.
1593 Days since Hurricane Harvey