Why are the floods in Texas so bad?

 

Why are the floods in Texas so bad?

The torrential downpour that brought devastation to a children's summer camp and other vacation homes in Texas came at an unimaginable speed. In the early hours of Friday (July 4) local time, while the children and staff were sleeping, a torrent of water rushed through the stone cabins of Camp Mystic without warning. The Guadalupe River Dam overflows in just a few hours. "The flooding was described by the country's weather officials as" "one of the worst disasters in 100 years." ""

More than 100 people were killed across the state on Tuesday (July 8), including at least 27 from summer camps. The current of water left a trail of destruction through the camp's thatched-roof cabins. The flood also claimed the lives of eight children.

Some of the power behind this devastation can be seen in this picture, which shows how the water has increased rapidly in an area. With the search for the missing still ongoing, the question is whether more could have been done to prevent such a huge loss of life.

Experts say a number of factors contributed to the tragedy, including extreme weather, the location and timing of the holiday resort.

Excessive humidity: There was a lot of moisture in the air after a tropical storm that flooded Mexico, which moved north and caused the disaster in Texas.
Geographic Location: The camp is located in the Carr County area, where 84 people have died, which is more mountainous than neighboring counties. This causes the moist air to rise up and form huge thunderstorms, which themselves become a weather system and cause heavy rainfall over a wide area.
Slow-moving Storm: The system's slow movement increased the amount of rainfall and produced more thunderstorms around the Guadalupe River, which swelled at an unprecedented pace.
The National Weather Service reported that south-central Carr County received 5-10 inches (125-250 mm) of rain in just three to six hours. About 21 inches of rain was recorded in some areas from Thursday (July 3) to Monday (July 7).

The average rainfall in the Carville area in July of the last 25 years is a little more than 2 inches, that is, the equivalent of four months of rain in these few hours.

Another factor in the loss of life was timing - many Texans slept through Thursday night with the idea that a severe storm might stop in a few hours.

A flood watch warning was issued on Thursday afternoon and it was upgraded to a flood warning after midnight, with people advised to move to higher ground. Over the next two hours, it turned into a flash flood warning, and some people reported receiving text alerts on their phones overnight.

At 3: 30 a.m. local time on Thursday, Carville City Manager Dalton Rice said he was jogging near the river when he saw a light rain.

"But just half an hour later, an emergency flash flood warning was issued for Carr County, indicating it was a" "particularly dangerous situation" "- but that's when the major flooding began."

Camp Mystic was one of the rainiest areas at the time. Carr County is located in the heart of the Texas Hill Country, which is popular for its natural beauty, rivers, lakes, and wineries. "But the area is also notorious as a" "flash flood alley," "as repeated floods wreak havoc on local communities."

In the early hours of Friday (July 4) local time, the situation quickly took a serious turn when the flow of water coming down from the mountain directly into the river. Low-lying areas along the river are inundated with water.

According to the New York Times, some of the girls killed or missing were in low-lying cabins just 500 feet (152 meters) from the river bank. Those who survived were taken to safety in military trucks. They said there was no way to identify the camp - trees had fallen, kayaks were stuck in the trees, girls were being pulled out of the water.

The impact of climate change on such extreme weather events cannot be ignored. Although it's difficult to prove a direct correlation of Earth's warming with a particular weather event, sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico, where some of this wind came from, were warmer than normal.

Warmer water means more evaporation and therefore more moisture in the air, which makes storms stronger. Climate scientists are constantly warning that as the world warms, such precipitation events as in Texas will be more frequent and more terrible.