Heavy rains overnight now moving off to the east

Well, some heavy rain finally came overnight, with 1 to 4 inches generally falling across the Houston area. We were lucky. A region along the Texas-Louisiana border north of Beaumont received 6 to 10 inches overnight, and there are major flooding problems.

Here’s a look at the overnight rain totals in Houston.

Rain totals during the 12 hours preceding 6:40 a.m. CT Thursday. (HCOEM)
Rain totals during the 12 hours preceding 6:40 a.m. CT Thursday. (HCOEM)

 

According to the Harris County Flood Control District, here are a list of watersheds affected by the rains:

Little Cypress Creek:
Creek is overbanks at Becker Rd with minor flooding in progress. Subdivision on the south side of the creek west of Becker Rd may experience some flooding of the streets as water backs up into the underground system. Creek continues to rise slowly, but looks like it is close to crest.

Upper Spring Creek:
Creek is overbanks from the headwaters to below Hegar Rd. Field Store Rd and Hegar Rd have flooding over the roadways. The creek is continuing a very slow rise.

South Mayde Creek:
Creek is overbanks at Greenhouse Rd. Creek has crested and is starting to fall. Greenhouse Rd is passable.

South Madye Creek at Greenhouse is falling this morning, and passable. (Harris County Flood Control District)
South Mayde Creek at Greenhouse is falling this morning, and passable. (Harris County Flood Control District)

 

Upper Cypress Creek:
Creek is nearing bankfull at Sharp and Katy Hockley and will likely exceed banks later this morning. Current RFC forecast brings the creek to near 158.5 ft tomorrow morning. Minor flooding is likely along the channel from the headwaters to upstream of US 290. Portions of Sharp Rd and Katy Hockley will likely become inundated and possibly impassable.

Little Mound Creek:
Creek is overbanks and continuing to rise and may be close to impacting Mathis Rd.

West Fork San Jacinto River:
River began a rapid rise overnight. It is forecast to crest at 51.3 feet Friday morning.

Now let’s move on to the forecast.

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Flood watch extended through Thursday morning

The National Weather Service has extended a flash flood watch for the greater Houston area through 6 a.m., and it does appear a fairly broad line of storms is moving in from the south.

Area of flash flood watch in effect until 6 a.m. CT Thursday. (National Weather Service)
Area of flash flood watch in effect until 6 a.m. CT Thursday. (National Weather Service)

 

These storms could provide heavy rain showers across parts of the Houston area, especially along the coast and to the east of Interstate 45, during the evening hours.

So, yeah, where’s that rain?!?

Well the rain totals so far sure have been underwhelming. Personally, I blame Matt. I go to Seattle for a couple of days and everyone starts busting forecasts around here. (Kidding! Matt’s great. Rain events like this are pretty notorious to try and forecast, in terms of pinpointing the heaviest rain, even though conditions really seemed to line up for this one last night). Anyway, let’s discuss what may be ahead.

TODAY

We’re still going to seeĀ intermittent periods of heavy rain, even though most of the action so far has been to the north of the Houston metro area. A flash flood watch remains in effect for the entire metro area through 6 p.m. and there’s certainly the potential for an additional 3 to 6 inches of rain between now and Thursday morning. But after this morning’s bust I am in no way calling definitively for that.

Houston woke up this morning asking: Where's the rain? I get that. Short answer: Not here. (Intellicast)
Houston woke up this morning asking: Where’s the rain? I get that. Short answer: Not here. (Intellicast)

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