PROJECT ALERT NOTICE (TX) Tropical Storm Imelda

Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2019 18:07:26 EDT

Summary: Tropical Storm Imelda made landfall Tuesday afternoon near Freeport, Texas (60 miles south of Houston) producing heavy precipitation along the coast.

Tropical Depression 11 attained Tropical Storm status shortly before making landfall on Tuesday afternoon. The intensification of the storm and slow movement created concern about flooding that gained national attention. Tropical Storm Imelda was downgraded to a Tropical Depression shortly after making landfall. The system moved slowly north and east, creating the potential for flash flooding. But the highest precipitation totals (more than 20 inches reported in the St. Bernard National Wildlife Refuge) were right along the coast. Although parts of Houston and Galveston saw almost 7 inches, there were no reports of flooded homes or people stranded and only a few streams reached moderate flood levels. Antecedent conditions were dry, so the initial rainfall created little runoff.

Moderate flooding is possible for the East Fork San Jacinto and tributaries along the Lower Trinity as the system continues to move north and east and generate precipitation through the end of the week.

Five crews were deployed today to do measurements of flows in the minor to moderate flood range. No gages have been damaged. Additional crews may be deployed tomorrow, but flooding is expected to remain moderate or below.