Multiple Days of Heavy Rain Leads to Historical Flooding

Flooding

Multiple days of heavy rain resulted in area rivers and creeks flooding, including the Canadian River and the Prairie Dog Town Forks of the Red River. The Tierra Blanca Creek. The Wolf Creek and Palo Duro Creek were also flooding over their banks. There were several impacts along these rivers and creeks, including the evacuation of Valley De Oro along the Canadian River, the closing of Palo Duro State Park, and the closing of Southeast Park in Canyon as waters flooded most of the area baseball fields and dog park. By the end of May many locations had seen a monthly rain total anywhere from 6 to 14 inches of rainfall (with a few even higher). Most of the area was already at or above half of the annual rainfall by June 1st. A couple of notable events include May 27th when the Hereford area saw major flash flooding with over 2 inches of rain falling in just 40 minutes (some isolated locations saw over 8 inches of rain outside of Hereford). The Canyon/Umbarger area saw 3 to 5 inches on the evening and overnight of May 31st, while most of the remaining area saw 1-3 inches. Amarillo and Canyon both saw flash flooding which caused cars to be swept off roadways resulting in numerous water rescues. 2 to 4 inches of rain over western Lipscomb County during the afternoon of June 2nd caused flooding downstream on the Wolf Creek at Lipscomb. The final major event was during the overnight period on June 7th when a broken line of storms moved in from the northwest that filled in and strengthened just as they moved into the Amarillo area. Heavy rainfall produced anywhere from 0.5" to 1.5" across Amarillo and this lead to major flash flooding as water escaped from the already full Lawrence Lake and flooded area streets, businesses, and residents in that area.  Over 200 people and 50 pets had to be rescued. 

Hydrographs

Flooding at the Canadian River 19 miles north of Amarillo	Flooding at the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River 13 miles northeast of Wayside	High water levels at Palo Duro Creek 6 miles west of Spearman	Flooding at the Wolf Creek at Lipscomb

Radar/Photos

Canadian River Flooding North of Amarillo Courtesy of Rodney Bastow	Greenway Playa Lake Flooding Courtesy of Mike Gittinger	Helium Road Flood  Courtesy of John McKee	Flooding in Strawberry Fields Courtesy of Lawrence Laney

John Stiff Park Flooding Courtesy of Jay McCoy	Greenways Flooding Courtesy of Mike Gittinger	Flooding where Tierra Blanca and Palo Duro Creek merge  Courtesy of Dr. JB Boren	Street flooding in Amarillo on Couter and I-40 Courtesy of Obie Rangel

Mudslide in Canyon Courtesy of NWS Amarillo, TX	Gordon Cummings Rd. west of Brown Rd. Courtesy of NWS Amarillo, TX	Tierra Blanca Creek on Brown Rd. with scoured asphalt Courtesy of NWS Amarillo, TX	Road H west of Hereford, TX Courtesy of Brady Kendrick

Tierra Blanca Creek over U.S. Highway 385 in Hereford, TX Courtesy of Brady Kendrick	Semi truck in water in Hereford, TX. Courtesy of Brady Kendrick	John Pitman Municipal Golf Course in Hereford TX Courtesy of Brady Kendrick	San Jose community in Hereford TX Courtesy of NWS Amarillo TX

Rain Reports 

Environment

The environment was characterized by a persistent "blocking" pattern that provided well above normal moisture to the area. This moisture provided fuel for any little disturbance to produce thunderstorms. 

Figure 1: 500mb Heights show multiple days of the same general "blocking" pattern that resulted in well above normal moisture advection into the Panhandles along with weak steering winds.	Figure 2: 700mb shows moisture anomalies each day due to the increased subtropical flow]	Figure 3: 00z soundings from KAMA showed ample instability and well above normal moisture for storms to feed on and grow upscale