Storm Events Database

Event Details:

Event Flash Flood
-- Flood Cause Heavy Rain
State TEXAS
County/Area SUTTON
WFO SJT
Report Source Public
NCEI Data Source CSV
Begin Date 2018-09-21 12:00 CST-6
Begin Location 2WNW SONORA
End Date 2018-09-21 15:15 CST-6
End Location 5WSW SONORA
Deaths Direct/Indirect 0/0 (fatality details below, when available...)
Injuries Direct/Indirect 0/0
Property Damage 8.00M
Crop Damage 0.00K
Episode Narrative A slow moving upper and surface trough, an abundance of Gulf of Mexico moisture, and remnants of moisture from a dying Pacific tropical cyclone resulted in devastating flash flooding in part of West Central Texas. The town of Sonora along the Dry Devil's Draw was hardest hit by a wall of water and subsequent flash flooding.
Event Narrative Very heavy rain of eight plus inches fell north of Sonora in the vicinity of thirteen uncontrolled dams north of Sonora. Sites 1-8 are on the Dry Devils River and Sites 9-13 are on Lowrey Draw. As these dams filled, flood waters overflowed the spillways into the draws. This was the first time (as far as anyone knows) the emergency spillways were activated for some of these dams. There were no breaches, these structures worked as they were meant to function. Normally these structures would help mitigate flooding in Sonora, but previous rains had already filled up many of the sites.
One of the deputies saw a wall of water come down the Dry Devil's Draw just north of Sonora at about 1 PM CDT near U.S. 277. This wall of water flooded many homes located near the Dry Devil's Draw in Sonora shortly after 1 PM CDT. Flood waters even flowed over the US 277 bridge on the south side of Sonora. The depth of this wall of water is estimated at around 25 feet. The flood waters cut off the city of Sonora from neighboring first responders in all directions who wanted to help. Emergency management reported about 250 homes were either damaged or destroyed.


    



All events for this episode:

Location County/Zone St. Date Time T.Z. Type Mag Dth Inj PrD CrD
Totals: 0 0 8.000M 0.00K
OZONA CROCKETT CO. TX 09/21/2018 07:42 CST-6 Flash Flood 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
MARYNEAL NOLAN CO. TX 09/21/2018 09:48 CST-6 Flash Flood 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
EL DORADO MUNI ARPT SCHLEICHER CO. TX 09/21/2018 10:35 CST-6 Flash Flood 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
EL DORADO MUNI ARPT SCHLEICHER CO. TX 09/21/2018 11:56 CST-6 Flash Flood 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
SONORA SUTTON CO. TX 09/21/2018 12:00 CST-6 Flash Flood 0 0 8.000M 0.00K
WEINERT HASKELL CO. TX 09/21/2018 12:36 CST-6 Flash Flood 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
SONORA ALLISON ARPT SUTTON CO. TX 09/21/2018 12:43 CST-6 Flash Flood 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
TANKERSLY TOM GREEN CO. TX 09/21/2018 14:16 CST-6 Flood 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
TUXEDO JONES CO. TX 09/21/2018 14:21 CST-6 Flood 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
RADIUM JONES CO. TX 09/21/2018 16:14 CST-6 Flash Flood 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
SHERWOOD IRION CO. TX 09/21/2018 16:32 CST-6 Flood 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
Totals: 0 0 8.000M 0.00K