We had a lively discussion of the Texas Hill Country a short time ago. If you've been paying any attention to the weather channel, you may have noticed that an unusual "cut off" low pressure system has dumped torrential rains on Central Texas.

I'm one of the lucky ones, getting just 10 inches over three days, so I just got a good soaking and no damage. Within a couple of miles of my place, the Pedernales watershed got as much as 15 inches and more, while spots north of San Antonio may have gotten 20 inches or more.

While some structures located in flood plains (which should never been placed there anyway) were damaged, the character of that ole Hill Country was made by water erosion anyway, and the "Land of 1,100 Springs" (according to Pearl Beer) will be bubbling for weeks to come.

Flooding like this doesn't generally hurt the wildlife -- there's plenty of high ground for them to go to. A few ground-nesting birds could have been hurt, but over all, this rain will make the Hill Country "put on its Sunday clothes" and provide excellent potential for fall hunting.

Y'all come on down!

Stonecreek,

I learned how to hunt not far from you. I started hunting on the old 4-T ranch up FM 195. Just up from it's intersection w/ I-35.
I hunted for 20 years on a ranch in Llano county. All I can say is that when the Hill country gets dressed up, it's probably the prettiest place on the earth.
My folks still live in Central Tx and called me to wish me a happy 4th, right before going to the Belton 4th of July Parade.

Thanks for the update.

Yeah,
Just got back from visiting my folks in Leakey. Whole lotta rain. Washed out the bridge (low water crossing) between Concan and Sabinal. Texas highway rebuilt a temporary crosssing yesterday and it washed out again this morning. Garner State Park is closed for the Fourth, which is unusual cause their boathouse and boats got washed away along with a whole bunch of vacation houses along the Frio river. If you lost some stuff I guess you can find it in Corpus.

Being a native of that great planet, I expect no one is complaining...You could get a whuppin for cussin the rain as I recall....I remember praying for hurricanes to hit the coast so we would get the off shoot rains in the Big Bend....

I got right at 20" of rain here in north San Antonio over 2 1/2 days. There are still areas badly flooded and some of the rivers have yet to crest. I am OK where I am but the road I live on flooded out about 3 blocks south of me where Salado Creek crosses. Many people have been flooded out of their homes or lost their homes totally. I just finished putting together a box of clothes to take to the Salvation Army in the morning. Here are some pictures of HWY 281 in mid-town(a major north/south artery in San Antonio) and some other spots in the area:




[ 07-05-2002, 04:30: Message edited by: Bob in TX ]

Wow!!! I've been away from SA for close to 6 years now. I do remember that when those rain trains get started,there isn't much to do but hope you're ark is ready. Those pics really do bring back some memories!!!
As Ray said, you can get in trouble for cussin' the rain down there! The landowner we hunted on in Llano county used to jest about their lack of rain by saying "Remember that flood that Noah had? We got an inch and a quarter of it!" His other comment was "Llano county needed rain 3 days after Noah got off the ark"

Pity we can't bottle some of that excess up and send it out west to Arizona, Colorado, NM and even some back up there to Ray. Figure he could use some as well.

Thanks for the pics Bob.

Well, we had a beautiful 4th of July, it looked like the rain was all over, and I was planning to go out to my ranch and cut some weeds and get ready to "drag" the roads. Woke up this morning and checked the NWS computer rainfall estimate to find that we had had four more inches during the night.

Like Ray says, you don't ever cuss the rain in Texas, but like relatives who stay too long, it's always nice when a good visit is over.

I'm up to about 14" now on my place. The rain has been so heavy just north of San Antonio that the NWS has had to recalibrate their color-code scale on their precipitation map http://www.srh.noaa.gov/radar/latest/DS.80stp/si.kewx.shtml. It now goes up to 25+ inches (and they didn't even start counting until after the first 4-6" had fallen).

Anyone planning to come to the Texas hill country might ought to rethink that for a few days until this system moves off (assuming it ever will) and all the water runs out of the hills. The next two days could be the WORST for flooding regardless of any new rain just because more and more water is running down out of the hills.

This will be the SECOND "500 year flood" in the last 4 years for many folks. Everyone that built within the 100 year flood plain just got the KIBOSH put on them big time. Hopefully none of the major dams (Canyon Lake and Medina Lake) will break. That would REALLY be a disaster for 1,000s of folks.

Keep your powder dry if you live in Texas!

I go down to Leakey in the third week of October each year for a three-day bike ride, so I've been watching the news with interest. I noticed that a bridge near Bandera was out (but since repaired?). The dam management people have been looking decidedly uncomfortable on television.
That town north of San Antonio (the name escapes me) that always gets hammered is getting washed away out of the low spots. The river (Guadelupe?) has gone from 300 cfs to 70000 cfs.

If anyone knows where Potranco and 1604 is, I have had 23 inches of rain so far. It rained again last night, but not very much. Still cloudy, but things seem to have slowed down. I live on the side of a hill and my house is not in danger, but I am surrounded by low water crossings which make it hard to get in and out. I can usually take 211 to Hwy 90, but this time even Hwy 90 was closed.

The town of Helotes is at 1604 and Hwy 16. Just north of there an earth tank broke and the next tank down the creek caught the water. They were expecting that it might break. Haven't heard. It was 20 acres of water 30 feet deep. A fair amount if it was unexpected.

The weather map stops at 25 inches. At church on the fourth of July, a man who lives just east of Comfort said that he got 40 inches of rain. All of that would have gone into Canyon Lake.

San Antonio floods more than most. I remember about ten years ago working rigs south of San Anton'. There was a golf course in the middle of town where you could see just the tops of a few flags that were still in place on the greens, in a sea of water. Seven feet deep on the high-point of a golf course. I was impressed.

Wildlife is really stirring during breaks in this rainy weather. Yesterday afternoon, deer were everywhere grazing contentedly within sight of the highways.

You don't usually see that many deer this time of year because of the cover, abundant food, nocturnal habits, etc., so I'm always surprised to see how RED they are during the summer. These central Texas whitetails just need a white face to look more like a Hereford cow than a deer right now. As the seasons change, the does become more gold, then grayish in the late fall (lactating does hard pressed for nutrition are often lighter in color than the healthier does). Older bucks tend to get very dark in the fall, especially with good nutrition.

How about it? Do whitetails in other parts of the country follow a similar color pattern as the seasons change?

One other thing: when the water comes up, a lot of snakes get moved out of their normal habitat and end up underfoot. Watch where you step...

I have an interview in Cuero late next week, can anyone say how the Cuero area was affected? Are ther any good gun clubs in the Victoria/Cuero area to visit while looking around?
lb404

lb404: According the Austin American-Statesman this morning (7-9), the Guadalupe river at Cuero is expected to crest today at 27 feet, then begin receding. The sheriff's department said that it crested at 30 feet in 1998, so they don't expect that many problems during this event.

Be sure to watch weather reports, however, since a chance of rain is predicted during the next several days and a weak tropical disturbance is forming in the Gulf of Mexico.

[ 07-09-2002, 19:54: Message edited by: Stonecreek ]

I am one of the lucky ones...I live on highway 16 and we had close to 20" of rain. Thankfully no damage, but some of the sites have been amazing. Those of you who are familiar with San Antonio will find it amazing that the I-10 1604 intercahnge was under water. As well as parts of 281. The Leon Creek and French Creek areas are finally subsiding, but the damage left was substantial.

The other thing that is amazing, we are still under water restrictions, due to the "drought" situation. The commies (water police) say it nescasarry to stay in restriction for 30 days. AMAZING!

Jim

One of the lower Guadalupe bridges between Cuero and Yorktown is underwater, so is Hwy59 between Goliad & Beeville (San Antonio River) as of Wednsday. Gonzales is still OK, they say it isn't as bad as 98.