Screenshot of Mariel Ruiz’s Facebook post showing a flooded roadway in Old East Dallas.
Who else was woken up this morning by the sound of cracks of lightning?
And if that’s the worst of the storm you faced today (Friday, June 19), then that’s pretty lucky. Meanwhile, some drivers in East Dallas were hampered by flooded roadways. Video footage posted on Facebook showed a pond at the intersection of Carroll Avenue and Victor Street. This stopped drivers on both sides of the road, who then tried to turn around, but one vehicle appeared to be stuck in the water.
Tiffanie Delgado McMahon told FOX 4 that she and her 8-year-old daughter were trapped on the flooded Carroll Avenue and, obviously, terrified. The water was over the hood of her SUV, but they made it out safely, thanks to a police officer. On top of that, she had to wait more than three hours for a tow truck because of the demand at the time.
“This was an experience, and now I know what to do,” McMahon said to FOX 4. “They say don’t drown, turn around, but there was nowhere to turn around to. Everywhere was flooded. It was go forward; there was no going back, so forward we went.”
Four to five inches of rain came down on the Metroplex, according to FOX 4, and Dallas first responders answered 76 stranded driver calls, plus two for water rescue, on Friday morning. Even an autonomous-driving Waymo got stuck in flooded waters on Fitzhugh Avenue.
Thankfully, there haven’t been reports of any deaths (that I’ve seen) because of the flooding.
Texas Department of Insurance shared that flash floods are the No. 1 weather-related cause of death in the U.S., and our state’s terrain makes these downpours worse.
“An estimated 20 million of Texas’ 171 million acres are flood-prone – more than in any other state,” according to the department’s fact sheet. “Texas’ rocky, clay-rich soil, low coastal regions and steep central terrain make the state vulnerable to flooding. The state’s geographic location also makes it flood-prone because of the strong frontal air masses from the Great Plains and the intense storms from the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. When these weather conditions meet, rain may fall faster than the soil can absorb it.”
The department also reports that these flood waters are powerful enough to “roll boulders, tear out trees, destroy buildings and bridges, and cut new channels in the Earth’s surface,” (not to mention triggering mudslides), and they can rise 30 feet or higher.
Proactively, you and your family should pay attention to weather alerts, create an evacuation plan and follow orders from emergency managers, according to the Texas Department of Insurance. When in the midst of a flood, think high, not low. Avoid low-lying areas, drainage infrastructure and low water crossings, and seek higher ground (but not an attic because you could get stuck in there). Don’t drive through flood waters or around barricades, but if you are trapped in your vehicle and surrounded by fast-moving waters, stay there, unless water is rising inside the vehicle.
More information on flash flood safety can be found here. Stay vigilant, East Dallas!
