Tropical Depression Bill lashes Texas with heavy rain

Tropical Depression Bill will drift across part of the southern Plains with torrential rainfall and renewed concerns for major flooding before moving toward the Midwest late this week.

Tropical Depression Bill will drift across part of the southern Plains with torrential rainfall and renewed concerns for major flooding before moving toward the Midwest late this week.

The eye of Bill made landfall over Matagorda Island, Texas, during Tuesday midday as a tropical storm.

Bill will slowly track northward over Texas on Wednesday and across Oklahoma during Wednesday night and Thursday.

According to AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski, “The main concerns have been and will continue to be the potential for heavy rainfall and major flooding.”

Impacts to Continue Inland

Typically tropical systems weaken rapidly when making landfall due to dry air choking off the moisture source needed to maintain intensity. However, the recent heavy rain and waterlogged landscape will cause this storm to weaken slowly.

The combination of heavy rain and gusty winds can bring down tree limbs and cause sporadic power outages.

“Rainfall will result in significant flooding across central and eastern Texas and into southern Oklahoma through Wednesday night,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Chyna Glenn said.

This storm will continue to funnel copious amounts of moisture into a zone that had torrential rainfall in May. Flooding from that rainfall continues along some of the rivers in parts of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma. A new surge of high water is likely to develop and move downstream along the rivers in these areas through the weekend.

The heaviest rain and hence the greatest risk of flooding into Thursday will be focused on the upper Texas coast, central and northeastern Texas and central and eastern Oklahoma. Many of these locations may receive double-digit rainfall this week, on top of 1-2 feet of rain that hit during May. Track when rain will begin and end for your location with AccuWeather.com MinuteCastยฎ.

Motorists and pedestrians in the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area can expect a windswept rain with localized flooding into Wednesday evening as the core of Bill moves through.

As the main batch of windswept rain pushes across north-central Texas and into Oklahoma, repeating showers and thunderstorms in spiral bands originating from the Gulf of Mexico, southeast of the storm, will lead to localized excessive rainfall and flooding. This zone will stretch from the middle and upper Texas coast to northeastern Texas and includes the Houston, Victoria, Huntsville and Lufkin areas into Wednesday night before dissolving.

An arm of rainfall averaging 3-6 inches will extend as far to the north as southern Missouri. Locally heavier amounts are possible.

The heavy rainfall will not stop over the southern Plains and the middle Mississippi Valley. Rain heavy enough to cause flooding will be funneled into part of the Midwest and the East.

Lingering Coastal Impacts

The system will remain strong enough to cause rough surf and strong rip currents through Wednesday. Bathers should heed local restrictions.
Small craft operators should keep their vessels within the protection of coastal waters through Wednesday due to the risk of sudden gusty squalls.

There is the potential for locally severe storms in the coastal region, including a few waterspouts and tornadoes.

“An east to southeast flow has been causing water to pile up along the Louisiana and Texas coasts since early in the weekend,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Dave Samuhel said.
Water levels will generally run 1-3 feet above normal from the central Texas coast to the western shoreline of Louisiana on Wednesday.

While water levels of this nature are not serious, they can cause problems such as minor coastal flooding and beach erosion.

Conditions related to wind, seas and tide levels will improve by Thursday, while conditions related to heavy rain and flooding broaden and worsen farther inland over the Central states.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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