Central Texas Flood Response 2015

Anon E. MooseBecause Texas, Environment

Memorial Day 2015 Floods

Weather Channel Rainfall Estimates for Memorial Day Weekend, 2015

In this very first episode of Science Meets Society at UT Austin, we discussed the May 2015 flooding event that severely impacted Wimberley, Hays County, Houston, and many other surrounding areas across Central Texas and the U.S. Midwest. As population levels and development in these areas rises significantly, flash floods are becoming a more routine part the environmental conditions of these areas (impervious cover and other environmental factors prevent water from infiltration into the ground). Some locations received record breaking excesses of water, rising to heights over 40 feet. Community organizers and first responders are currently developing plans and procedures to cope with this reality, including a system of water level sensors to provide a real time picture of river conditions, in order to allow predictive forecasting and strategic warning across the region. Find out more about this and other critical topics by tuning in to the UT Science Meets Society seminar.

Record rainfall was wreaking havoc across a swath of the U.S. Midwest on Sunday, causing flash floods in normally dry riverbeds, spawning tornadoes and forcing at least 2,000 people to flee. -Austin Statesman via AP news


Hays County, Texas, one of the areas hardest hit by flooding on Memorial Day weekend, has seen extraordinary population growth in recent decades. Data are from Census.gov.Credit