See our "Flash Flood Alley" PBS movie and DVD-ROM

See "The Water's Edge" PBS movie

Another Flood of Denial in Texas
An Editorial by Marshall Frech, Director of the Flood Safety Project
7/6/07

Denial is not a just river in Egypt.

That fact was made clear recently when Jack Colley, the chief of the Texas Governor's Division of Emergency Management, blamed the recent flooding in the state on “an unprecedented rain event in Texas for this time of year.”  

Colley needs to get his facts straight. The 18 inches of rain that swamped Marble Falls last week scores the lowest in terms of the 25 biggest summer rains in modern Texas history (see below). 
The truly remarkable thing about the ongoing problem of floods in Texas is how poorly informed Texans are about the dangers of flooding. And that lack of education can only be blamed on the refusal of Texas' state, county, and local governments to make education a priority.

And so if public safety is priority number one (so we hear), then how many people have to drown, how many homes have to be lost, how many livelihoods destroyed before leadership in Texas truly addresses this problem? It is a simple fact that Texas regularly leads the nation in flood deaths and damages. But while my recent DVD-ROM on Texas flood education won a national award from the Association of State Floodplain Managers, their Texas chapter has not distributed one copy. And despite the fact that Central Texas is the most flash-flood-prone area of North America, there are no formal education programs of any kind in Texas schools that address this problem. (Note: The weak, though well-meaning, effort known as "Turn Around Don't Drown" by the National Weather Service is obviously not working either since it is not funded and merely sloganeering at this point.)

I've also made two documentaries about this exact subject. The first was nominated for a National Academy of Science award. It is called "Flash Flood Alley" and you can read about it through the link at the top of the page. The most recent is “The Water's Edge.” It's airing on PBS in cities across the U.S. and you can learn about it here:   www.thewatersedge.tv

Top 25 Summer Rains in Texas
Excerpted from: United States Geological Survey Open-file Report 03-193
“Major and Catastrophic Storms and Floods in Texas”
See: http://floodsafety.com/texas/USGSdemo/measurement/maxprecip.htm

Maximum
Precipitation Year Date(s) Region(s)
48.00 in. 1978 August 1 to 4 Central Texas
43.00 in. 1979 July 24 to 28 East Texas and Upper Coast
40.00 in. 1921 September 8 to 10 Central Texas
35.00 in. 1932 June 30 to July 2 Central Texas
35.00 in. 2002 June 30 to July 7 Central Texas
34.00 in. 1899 June 28 to July 1 Central and East Texas
34.00 in. 1954 June 24 to 29 Lower Rio Grande Basin
34.00 in. 1967 September 19 to 25 South Texas
30.00 in. 1936 September 13 to 18 Colorado River Basin
30.00 in. 1960 June 24 to 26 Gulf Coast
27.00 in. 1979 September 17 to 21 East Texas and Upper Coast
26.00 in. 1952 September 9 to 11 Guadalupe / Lower Colorado River Basins
25.70 in. 1971 September 7 to 13 South Texas and Coastal Bend
24.00 in. 1948 June 23 to 24 Rio Grande Watershed
23.00 in. 1943 July 27 to 29 Upper Gulf Coast
23.00 in. 1974 September 14 to 25 Rio Grande Watershed
22.70 in. 1940 June 28 to 30 South-Central Texas
21.00 in. 1936 June 30 to July 4 Central Texas
20.70 in. 1913 June 27 to 30 Central Texas
20.33 in. 1964 September 15 to 30 South-Central & Northeast Texas
20.00 in. 1984 September 16 to 19 South Texas
19.80 in. 1915 August 16 to 21 East Texas
19.60 in. 1945 August 26 to 29 Gulf Coast
19.50 in. 1932 Aug. 30 to Sept. 5 Most of Texas
18.00 in. 2007 June 27 Central Texas (MOST RECENT EVENT)

NOTE #1: (Near- summer Tropical Storm Allison in Houston - June 6 to 9, 2001 was one of the costliest storms in U.S. history and produced 36.00 in. of rain.

NOTE #2: The infamous Galveston Hurricane event, in the summer of 1900 (September 8-9) is still the single biggest loss of life in a U.S. disaster with estimates of 5000 to 8,000 dead.