Catastrophic Rainfall and Flooding in Texas

Smith, James A.; Baeck, Mary Lynn; Morrison, Julia E.; Sturdevant-Rees, Paula

doi:10.1175/1525-7541(2000)001<0005:crafit>2.0.co;2

Cited by 78 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Using the model described here and by altering rain cell characteristics, a maximum runoff peak discharge of about 150 m 3 /s was obtained, which is about threefold the peak discharge obtained from the original rain cell. A similar conclusion was reached by Smith (2000) who demonstrated that peak discharge can be maximized by storm speed and direction. It is interesting to put this enhancement in relation to the envelope curve of the region.…”

Section: Summary and Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

Hydrologic response of a semi-arid watershed to spatial and temporal characteristics of convective rain cells

Yakir

Morin

2011

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Rain can be measured and represented in many ways such as point data from rain gauges, grid data from meteorological radar, or interpolated data. In this paper we represent rain fields by implementing a rain cell model of convective rain cells. The rain fields are used as an input to a hydrological model to test the watershed response to spatial and temporal characteristics of the rain cells. As a case study we tested an extreme storm event over a semi-arid watershed in southern Israel. The rain cell model was found to simulate the rain storm adequately. The use of these modeled cells allowed us to test the sensitivity of the watershed hydrological response to rain cell characteristics and it was found that the watershed is mainly sensitive to the starting location of the rain cell. Relatively small changes in the rain cell's location, speed and direction may increase watershed peak discharge by three-fold.

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Section: Summary and Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

Hydrologic response of a semi-arid watershed to spatial and temporal characteristics of convective rain cells

Yakir

Morin

2011

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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“…While some argued about the importance of rainfall intensity distribution (Chang, 2007;Rozalis et al, 2010;Yang et al, 2016b), a common conclusion concerned the movement of the storm: slower storms directed downstream of the catchment seem to produce flash floods of higher magnitudes (Doswell et al, 1996;Singh, 1997;Smith et al, 2000;Yakir and Morin, 2011). Our results confirm this effect: rain cells moving downstream with a direction close to the orientation of the principal axis of the catchments (Fig.…”

Section: Flash-flood-related Characteristicssupporting

confidence: 71%

Convective rainfall in a dry climate: relations with synoptic systems and flash-flood generation in the Dead Sea region

Belachsen

Marra

Peleg

et al. 2017

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Spatiotemporal patterns of rainfall are important characteristics that influence runoff generation and flashflood magnitude and require high-resolution measurements to be adequately represented. This need is further emphasized in arid climates, where rainfall is scarce and highly variable. In this study, 24 years of corrected and gaugeadjusted radar rainfall estimates are used to (i) identify the spatial structure and dynamics of convective rain cells in a dry climate region in the Eastern Mediterranean, (ii) to determine their climatology, and (iii) to understand their relation with the governing synoptic systems and with flashflood generation. Rain cells are extracted using a segmentation method and a tracking algorithm, and are clustered into three synoptic patterns according to atmospheric variables from the ERA-Interim reanalysis. On average, the cells are about 90 km 2 in size, move 13 m s −1 from west to east, and live for 18 min. The Cyprus low accounts for 30 % of the events, the low to the east of the study region for 44 %, and the Active Red Sea Trough for 26 %. The Active Red Sea Trough produces shorter rain events composed of rain cells with higher rain intensities, longer lifetime, smaller area, and lower velocities. The area of rain cells is positively correlated with topographic height. The number of cells is negatively correlated with the distance from the shoreline. Rain-cell intensity is negatively correlated with mean annual precipitation. Flash-flood-related events are dominated by rain cells of large size, low velocity, and long lifetime that move downstream with the main axis of the catchments. These results can be further used for stochastic simulations of convective rain storms and serve as input for hydrological models and for flash-flood nowcasting systems.

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“…Many of the deaths in this region are found along this escarpment from its northern extent near the DallasFort Worth area south to Austin and west toward Mexico. Floods in the region have shorter lag times between peak discharge and the time centroid of basinaverage rainfall (i.e., the time that equally divides the rainfall amount in half) and require much less rainfall and runoff to reach similar peak discharges as floods occurring in the neighboring coastal plains of Texas (Leopold 1991;Smith et al 2000).…”

Section: Results: Spatial Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Flood Fatalities in the United States

Ashley

2008

Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology

469

306

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This study compiles a nationwide database of flood fatalities for the contiguous United States from 1959 to 2005. Assembled data include the location of fatalities, age and gender of victims, activity and/or setting of fatalities, and the type of flood events responsible for each fatality report. Because of uncertainties in the number of flood deaths in Louisiana from Hurricane Katrina, these data are not included in the study. Analysis of these data reveals that a majority of fatalities are caused by flash floods. People between the ages of 10 and 29 and Ͼ60 yr of age are found to be more vulnerable to floods. Findings reveal that human behavior contributes to flood fatality occurrences. These results also suggest that future structural modifications of flood control designs (e.g., culverts and bridges) may not reduce the number of fatalities nationwide. Spatially, flood fatalities are distributed across the United States, with high-fatality regions observed along the northeast Interstate-95 corridor, the Ohio River valley, and near the Balcones Escarpment in south-central Texas. The unique distributions found are likely driven by both physical vulnerabilities for flooding as well as the social vulnerabilities.

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Catastrophic Rainfall and Flooding in Texas

Cited by 78 publications

References 30 publications

Hydrologic response of a semi-arid watershed to spatial and temporal characteristics of convective rain cells

Hydrologic response of a semi-arid watershed to spatial and temporal characteristics of convective rain cells

Convective rainfall in a dry climate: relations with synoptic systems and flash-flood generation in the Dead Sea region

Flood Fatalities in the United States

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