Tropical Storm Imelda caused devastating flooding across Southeast Texas after dropping near-records amount of rainfall, leading some to compare it to Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
Here’s a look at preliminary numbers of the tropical storm, courtesy of the National Weather Service:
- It’s the fifth wettest tropical cyclone in U.S. history—excluding Hawaii and Alaska.
The top five wettest are:
- Harvey, 60.58 inches, 2017
- Amelia, 48 inches, 1978
- Easy, 45.2 inches
- Claudette, 45 inches, 1979
- Imelda, 43.15 inches, 2019*
(*Preliminary numbers)
- It was the fourth wettest tropical cyclone in Texas history.
- Imelda beats Tropical Storm Allison in 2001 for the highest observed precipitation: Allison dropped 39 inches; preliminary numbers from Imelda are 43.15 inches.
- It’s the fifth all-time wettest day ever in Houston with 9.18 inches fallen at Bush Intercontinental Airport.
- It’s the wettest September day on record for Houston, beating Hurricane Ike’s previous record of 7.73 inches in 2008.
- It’s Beaumont’s fifth wettest day on record.
- It’s Beaumont’s third wettest September Day.
- Imelda rivaled Harvey in some areas, but was made far worse because it happened in hours instead of days, like Harvey.
- See the images below for comparison of how expansive the flooding was with Harvey (left) compared to the tiny dot that it was with Imelda (right).
MORE IMELDA COVERAGE
- I-10 East shut down indefinitely due to major damage at the San Jacinto River
- Declaration of disaster issued for several southeast Texas counties
- LIVE BLOG: Flash Flood Watch continues; some roads still flooded and closed
- Aerial views show devastating flooding in Huffman
- Houstonian Heros rescue drivers, kids stranded on the North Freeway
- 2 dead as Imelda strands drivers, floods homes in Texas
- Man dies after being pulled from submerged vehicle in north Houston