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| Austin Area Storm Histories
Sources: City of Austin Watershed Engineering Division
and the United States Geological Services
- 1869 July 6
- "The highest, and probably the most
disastrous flood that ever came down the Colorado within
a hundred years... Certainly none such ever occurred within
the memory of the oldest inhabitants of the white race."
- The month of July started with rains
at short intervals causing the Colorado River to rise gradually.
On the 6th, a flood came down the river in walls causing
it to overflow at an alarming rate. According to Brown's
Annals in the Austin History Center, "the mass of waters
rushed down from the narrow and confined channel between
the mountains above, to the wider one below, with such fearful
velocity that the middle of the stream was higher than the
sides, and the aspect it presented was appalling."
- A stone marker still exists next to
the Buford Tower on Town Lake, marking the high water level
of 43 stage feet.
- 1900 April 5-8
- The flood waters started from a two-day
storm in the High Plains halfway between Lubbock and Amarillo.
The stormwater filled the Colorado, the Brazos and the Guadalupe
rivers, sending the torrent through unsuspecting cities
like Austin and Bastrop. The Colorado river peaked at 60'
high and a mile wide.
- 17" of rain in 48 hours.
- This flood will always be remembered
as "The Day the Dam Broke." The granite dam broke up, sending
a 50' wall of water down the river which killed dozens of
people, even whole families.
- The pride of Austin at the time, "Ben
Hur," the 181-foot long, triple-decker leisure steamboat,
was destroyed by the flood. It had two 538 horsepower engines
and could carry up to 2000 people.
- Austin Dam held back the waters
of Lake McDonald and was the second largest hydroelectric
dam in the United States, and created the first large artificial
reservoir in the state. It provided electricity for streetcars
and arc lamps, signs of the booming Austin economy. Austin's
golden era ended when it lost the dam, dam powerhouse, electric
light and power plant, and the municipal waterworks plant.
The financial hit on the City was major:
- It had paid $300,000 of the debt
of the 7-year old dam, but still owed $1,300,000 plus
interest.
- Property losses were in the millions,
and in one year, assessed values fell from $12,000,000
to $9,000,000.
- Tourist money from Lake McDonald
could no longer be expected.
- In the next 10 years, population
grew so slowly that Austin was dropped from the list
of large Texas cities.
- After struggling for funding,
and scrapping a defective replacement dam, the City
did not have a functioning dam and sound economy until
the completion of Tom Miller Dam in 1940.
- 1915 April 23
- Flash floods killed 35 people, most
of whom lived near Waller Creek. Many people drowned from
swirling water inside their houses. (Five of the dead were
black, the rest white.)
- Night storm of 10 inches in less than
2 hours.
- Excerpts from a 1915 article in the
Statesman says it all: "Whole sections of the city were
submerged for hours. Houses were washed away, cows, horses,
chickens and other fowls were careening down swelled Shoal
and Waller Creeks to join the human corpses that had gone
swirling before them to the bosom of the Colorado... This
morning Austin presents a pitiable sight. There is not a
section of the city traversed by the treacherous little
streams docile most months of the year, which has not felt
the finger of death."
- One of the peculiar things about the
damage was that on Shoal Creek, no damage was done below
12th Street, but Waller Creek had several miles of damage.
- Fireman Thomas Edward Quinn drowned
while rescuing a woman on Shoal Creek.
- Major George W. Littlefield gave the
largest individual donation of $1000 to the relief effort.
- 1921 September 8-10
- This storm event, known as "The Great
Thrall/Taylor Storm", still stands in the record books as
the greatest of all continental U.S. rainstorms during 18
consecutive hours. The storm entered Mexico as a hurricane
from the Gulf and then drifted northward dropping six inches
on Laredo before unleashing on Central Texas.
- No rain had fallen since July 7 that
year.
- Quote from survivor Ruth Mantor in
1996 Statesman article: "Mustang Creek, so small it is almost
impossible to find, got so high that it wrapped a steel
girder around a tree. The force of the water was unbelievable.
Every bridge coming into Taylor was washed away."
- Like the storms of 1998, 1991, and
1981, this storm followed a pattern that ran along the Balcones
Escarpment, then centered over Williamson and Travis Counties.
- At Taylor, 23.11" of rain fell in
24 hours. Thrall reported approximately 36 inches in 18
hours and 40 inches of rain in total. Austin received 18.23
inches of rain in 24 hours. Miraculously, only six fatalities
were reported in Travis County, all on Onion Creek. Three
steel bridges washed out on Onion Creek at Moore's Crossing
and Doyle's Crossing and on Walnut Creek at Dessau Road.
- There were 224 fatalities across the
seven counties that were affected.
- Although less rain fell in Bexar County,
the results were more disastrous. In a paragraph titled
"Less Warning Than War", the Austin American described the
terrifying night there: "Only in San Antonio the flood victims
had less warning than the booming of a distant cannon. The
stories told by those who fled before the flood waters seem
to make it clear that the Alazan Creek, usually a placid
rivulet of water, became a rushing torrent in less than
half an hour. The water, it is said, rose eight feet in
approximately twenty minutes. So it was not long before
the first of the houses near the creek bed floated from
their foundations and it was a barrage of these that hurled
themselves against the International & Great Northern
trestle. By midnight between forty and fifty houses that
a few minutes before vomited men, women and children in
all stages of dress and undress, were being churned into
a shapeless mass of debris where they lodged against the
railroad bridge. Their tremendous weight and pressure against
the trestle soon cracked that structure in the middle, which
pushed itself against a second trestle that broke shortly
after under the strain."
- 1935 June 15
- The flood of 1935 was one of three
major floods to hit the area in the 1930's.
- Austin was hit with 22" of rain in
three hours.
- Between 2500 and 3000 residents in
East Austin (near present-day IH-35 and the river bank)
were left virtually homeless after the waters receded. A
Statesman article described the situation: "Sloppy silt
was deposited to a depth of from six to 18 inches on the
floors, over furniture, bed clothing and in fact everything
that the glue-like mud could fasten itself upon, and only
the most rugged articles of furniture could be salvaged."
- "South Congress Avenue between Barton
Springs Road and the Texas School for the Deaf was a crumpled
mass of ruins, the street being littered with broken sewer
lines torn from business buildings that once stood in the
area, broken concrete, twisted water pipes, signs, trees,
timbers, structural steel, a number of the new concrete
lamp posts erected a month ago by the city and other debris.
The street, the pride of Austin and of the state highway
department presented a wretched scene."
- The Montopolis and Marble Falls bridges
were also both destroyed.
- 1957 April 24
- Texans cheered when rains came in
early April to end the seven-year drought. But on April
24, the Austin American Statesman said, "when the black,
purple shrouded cloud first appeared in the sky, Central
Texans knew something was about to happen. It did. Up to
10 inches of rain fell within a few minutes in a wide sweep
of middle Texas."
- April 24th was labeled "The Day of
the Big Cloud," and "the worst day of floods, tornadoes
and torrential rain and hail Central Texas has ever seen."
As if that wasn't bad enough, the rains kept coming for
a total of 32 days, causing flooding all across Austin and
Central Texas.
- 1960 October 28
- An evening cold front brought downpours
in a 75-mile radius around Austin. An Austin Statesman article
described the frightening evening: "Giant, swirling walls
of water, spawned by torrential rains of up to nine inches,
snuffed out at least two lives, swept away property valued
at $2.3 million, and forced 200 people to flee their homes
before the flood in a nightmarish night of death and destruction
in Austin. Early Saturday, bleary-eyed police reported they
had answered an unprecendented 6,000 calls during the night."
Several motorists were washed away in their cars, bringing
the final death toll to 11. Police claimed the floodwaters
from Boggy Creek rose to such a height and to such force
that "cars were being pushed around like floating beer cans"
on Rosewood Avenue.
- Police reported over 2,000 houses
with varying amounts of water inside.
- 1974 November 23
- An evening cold front brought thunderstorms
in a 40-mile wide line that dropped between four and ten
inches of rain in Central Texas.
- Stalled cars were abandoned all over
Austin and "every road in the county has people stranded
on the rooftops," said a Travis County sheriff's office
spokesman.
- A man and his 8-year-old daughter
and 5-year-old son were swept into West Bouldin Creek after
driving past an off-duty firefighter as he tried to stop
traffic from crossing the area. Their car was immediately
swept downstream, drowning all three and bringing the death
toll up to 13.
- "In the 8700 block of Bluff Springs
Road, firemen in boats rescued two women from a house which
was covered with water except for the top two feet of the
roof."
- 1981 May 24
- This storm event will always be remembered
as the "Memorial Day Flood" which drowned 13 people and
caused $36 million in damages. This short-duration storm
with intense rainfall hit many of Austin's urban creeks
of Bull, Walnut, Little Walnut, Shoal, Waller, Bee, Little
Bee, and Dry Creeks. 11 inches of rain fell in 3 hours after
a beautiful day with blue sky and sunshine. The storm struck
late at night catching most of the victims asleep or unwary.
All through the night, rescuers were busy pulling people
from rooftops, trees, and swamped automobiles. Shoal Creek
normally flows at 90 gallons per minute, but peaked during
this flood at over 6 million gallons/minute!
- The storm knocked out power during
the height of the storm at the National Weather Service.
Warnings had been issued before the storm arrival. Auxiliary
generator malfunctioned, forcing meteorologists to continue
issuing warnings to news outlets by telephone lines overburdened
with traffic. TV and radio stations and the cable system
were off the air, crippled by the same power outage, leaving
Austinites literally in the dark.
- 100-year flood for Shoal Creek.
- "That was the horrible part- the screaming,
screaming, screaming. And then, silence."
-Lela Goldsmith, whose house flooded at 4000 block of Jefferson
Street where their neighbors the Groves died.
- Firemen Jim Fiero, 32 and Shane Anderson,
22, received national recognition for their acts of heroism.
Jim Fiero's firetruck crew tried to rescue stranded motorists
in the 2700 block of Northland Drive on a Shoal Creek bridge.
The current picked up the 20-ton engine and pushed it into
an abutment. Were able to save one of seven people.
- "Calling Onion Creek a creek is like
calling the Colorado River a brook. Judged by the amount
of water that sometimes flows in it, Onion Creek could as
easily be a river." ... "Onion Creek is a very large watershed.
When it gets going it has tremendous flows in it."... "Rain
in Dripping Springs, Buda and the Hill Country around them
can start Onion Creek on a rise long before its 22-mile
section in Travis County begins."
-Onion Creek's capacity more like that of river article
- Quote about the force of water: "Grandfather
clocks, roll-top desks, groceries and lamps were strewn
along the banks of the creek. Dining room tables were lifted
by the water and sent careening through sliding glass doors.
A blue Volkswagen was found wedged underneath a Chevrolet
Malibu station wagon more than a block from where it had
been parked. More than 10 cars- many of them late models-
were swept away by the flood, and found strewn in the creek.
Cars that had not been washed away were upturned and smashed
into walls of homes bordering the creek. Garage doors buckled.
A Honda Civic was found on top of a 3-foot-high air conditioner...
Sidewalks near bridge abutments buckled. Weeds were wedged
into grills of cars that were found jacked atop fire hydrants.
Trees were uprooted, and spinet pianos lay on their sides."
-Neighborhood is devastated article (about Shoal Creek neighborhood
behind Northcross Mall at Silverway and Bullard drives)
- Quote from Rudolph Cantu, Jefferson
Street resident: The water was rising so fast. The mattress
was floating in the bedroom with my three children on top
of it. Their heads touched the ceiling. My wife clung to
the frame of the bed. The second I smashed my hand through
the window, the pressure of the water swept me out of the
house. I hung onto the window frame. I was thinking about
my family. The water was rushing past. Someone came to me.
It was God. He said to me 'Do not let go, because I will
help you.' Right after that, the current changed to counterclockwise.
It was like a cyclone. I was swept back in through the window...
I lost everything I had. My two cars were washed away. I
lost my house, my refrigerator, couches, beds, sofas, the
washing machine, dryer, the freezer, all of my three kids'
belongings. The floorboards are swollen like a water wave...
-Jefferson Street survivors regroup amid creek's havoc article
- Non-creek flooding tidbit- Houses
on Walnut Creek on Hermitage Drive were not flooded in the
backyard from the creek, but from the front street because
of a blocked culvert. Article: Kirkley says the five-foot
wall of water that hit the front of the house May 24 was
created by a blocked culvert on the west side of IH35, making
an artificial dam for Little Walnut creek and forcing the
raging water to leap over the highway and plunge down Hermitage
Drive on the other side. "There was all kinds of junk blocking
the culvert," Kirkley says. "Buckets, barrels, brush, building
materials, scrap and trash of all kinds. And that's what
made the flood out here, not the creek itself."
- Non-creek flooding tidbit- "You'd
be surprised how many picnic tables end up in culverts in
this city."
-Jim Thompson, Director of city engineering
- Non-creek flooding tidbit- "City ordinances
prohibit putting any kind of obstacle in drainage easements,
including creeks... Fences commonly are built on easements
which can divert or dam the water, or get carried away and
block the culvert. With enough rain, barbecue grills and
picnic tables get swept away and become hazardous dams.
Railroad ties that made such nice garden boundaries alter
the flow, perhaps into a neighbor's yard."
-Slowly improving drainage system fights history of inadequacies
article.
- Non-creek flooding tidbit- If the
city does not have a drainage easement, you are responsible
for maintaining creek areas.
- The variability of storms greatly
impacts our community because Austin has so many creeks
and watersheds. This means heavy rain can affect one creek
without affecting another. For example, during the 1981
flood, a TX DPS report says: "Luckily, Waller Creek avoided
extremely heavy rainfall. If its watershed had received
the eight to ten inches measured elsewhere, damages and
loss of life would have been much more severe... Although
the rainfall was not as severe, there was severe flooding
along the entire length of the creek. Houses were washed
off their foundations at 44th and Duval. Many cars were
flooded and at least twenty homes had water three feet deep
come rushing through their living areas..." Another potential
problem is that on creeks with relatively small watersheds,
there will not be much time to get people out, regardless
of how sophisticated a FEWS system you have.
- Tidbit about the importance of owning
a NOAA weather radio- "I can not imagine anybody without
a NOAA radio," Lyn Krause said, adding he sees little reason
for a citywide alert system for weather when a $16 weather
radio will tune in for constant reports from NOAA. "Just
like so many people said 'They didn't tell us. They didn't
tell us.' (But) they did tell us" over the NOAA radio, he
said.
-Quote from Ham Radio FEWS article
- 1981 Flooded Businesses and
names for potential interviews-
- Strait Music, 908 N. Lamar, owner
Dan Strait, Robert Strait, Amy Falcone employee, Shoal
Creek, uninsured $300,000 loss, desktop spindle impaled
into ceiling, whereabouts of two pianos washed away
remain a mystery, guitars washed into the parking lot
of Hut's.
- Louis Shanks furniture store,
1105 N. Lamar, furniture washed out of the store.
- Lamar Volkswagen, 1014 N. Lamar,
George Lowrance, owner said "We've got cars that are
just flat gone. We have no idea where they went." 125
of the 150 new and used cars were damaged.
- Whole Foods Market, 914 N. Lamar,
John Mackey, president and part owner estimated damages
at about $250,000-300,000. Will put about 70 store employees
out of work. No insurance.
- Bill Heil Chrysler-Plymouth, 841
W. Sixth Street, Dale Dillon, VP and part owner, almost
all of the 100 new and used cars were damaged. About
half ended up in the creek.
- Henry Moore's Subaru, 1112 N.
Lamar, Dick Cagle estimated $500,000 damages, including
80 new and used cars.
- Austin Toyota, 805 W. Fifth Street,
David Daniels, comptroller estimated his firm suffered
about $1 million in vehicle losses and about $400,000
in building and computer damage. More than 100 cars
were swept into Shoal Creek.
- McMorris Ford, 808 W. Sixth Street,
lost more than 100 new cars and virtually the entire
used-car inventory into the creek.
- Scotland Yards, 918 W. 12th Street,
Alan Keeling, manager of material store.
- Bill Bell Motors, 814 W. Fifth
Street, lost about 20 used cars. The dealership's 20x15
office building was carried 100 feet away.
- Dry Creek destroyed Rollingwood
Plaza Shopping Center and removed whole sections of
Bee Cave Road.
- Back-in-a-Flash, 915 N. Lamar,
general partner Gerald McNaron, Shoal Creek (June 11-13
storm)
- Strait Music, 908 N. Lamar, owner
Dan Strait, Shoal Creek (June 11-13 storm)
- Lynn Drilling Corp, 5000 Bee Caves
Road, employee Mickey Giles (June 11-13 storm)
- 1981 Post Flood Mitigation
- 16 parcels on Jefferson Street
were purchased and existing structures removed to increase
channel cross-sectional area between 38th and 45th Streets.
- A few months after the flood,
Austinites approved $970,000 in bonds to pay for a flood
early warning system that was installed in 1986.
- Buyers- New generations of home
buyers come in looking for houses near creeks. "Homes
near creeks usually offer an abundance of trees and
more privacy than higher and drier locations. The back
yards are generally much larger because builders must
locate houses above flood-prone areas by city ordinances."
- Development in older areas of
the city (pre-1975 floodplain ordinances) inevitably
will suffer flood damage.
- "Short of having the ability to
control rainfall or spending billions of dollars ripping
up our creeks and turning them into unsightly concrete
storm sewers, nothing can be done to eliminate flash
flooding in Austin. And short of moving thousands of
Austin residents out of flood-prone areas- at a cost
of millions to taxpayers- little can be done to dramatically
reduce property damage from the next major flood."
-Taming the Torrents article
- Creeks that were filled, straightened,
or rerouted tried to reclaim old territory during the
flood. Fill was ripped out and flooded streets and buildings.
"Creeks don't make 90-degree turns," said Ramon Miguez,
senior staff engineer in the city. "It doesn't want
to do what man wants it to do. A creek develops over
a long period of time and usually can dictate its course
better than anyone could do for it."
-Southside creeks resist efforts to redirect paths article
- "Like her neighbors, Carolyn Grove
believed that the watershed of Shoal Creek was being
recklessly overdeveloped. City officials would rather
blame the flood on God. They say that the runoff contributed
to the rushing water but that such an intense rainfall
would have flooded Austin regardless of the development."
-Before the flood, Texas Monthly article
- 1991 December 20
- Record peak discharges were recorded
at many creek gauging stations across Central Texas. A week
of heavy rains contributed to flooding in Lake Travis, Shoal,
Williamson, Bull, and Walnut Creeks.
- 355 homes in Travis County and 68
in Bastrop County were destroyed or damaged.
- Lake Travis reached a record 710.4
feet, breaking the all-time record of 707.3 feet set on
May 18, 1957.
- An estimated 200 homes in Travis and
Bastrop counties were completely under water.
- 10-year flood.
- 1998 October 17
- Twin hurricanes Madeline and Lester
on the west coast of Mexico funneled continuous waves of
moisture inland causing flooding in Central and South Texas.
Across the state there were 31 deaths, 20 counties declared
disaster areas, and 7,000 people evacuated from their homes.
Property damages and losses reached almost $1 billion.
- In Austin, 454 homes were damaged,
with most of the damages incurred to houses along Onion
Creek, Walnut Creek, and Williamson Creek.
- 2001 November 15
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