Do you live in one of the most flood-prone regions in North America? Just in time for hurricane season, the June txH2O highlight is Do you live in Flash Flood Alley? from the fall 2016 Texas’ Extreme Weather issue.
In a region of Central Texas, weather and landscape factors work together to produce the rapid flood events that have earned the name ‘Flash Flood Alley.’
Contributing weather includes intense rainfall events while the landscape factors consist of the Balcones Fault zone through Texas’ middle from Waco south to Uvalde. According to the experts, the warm air from the Gulf of Mexico, moisture from the Pacific and cool air masses from the north end up colliding to cause many inches of rain to fall over a short period of time. The Balcones Fault zone is a sloped, rocky landscape with limestone, hard surfaces and steep hills that can funnel rain into restricted valleys resulting in flooding.
To read more about the flooding phenomenon, tragic history, see photos or learn how to plan for future events, read the full article.