SG...The Flooded Wet Rat! Beaumont Under Water!

[southerngale]

Oh my! What a day it's been here!! I found myself out in the hardest rain I have ever seen since Allison and amongst flash flooding. So many streets here are flooded and many are closed. In a local parking lot, the water was up to car windows. Many cars have been stranded...I watched someone try to pull out an SUV that went off in a ditch while I was turning around trying to get out of a flooded area myself. I went down one flooded street only to discover that I couldn't get out the other end....literally couldn't tell where the road was!! To make things worse, I couldn't turn around either...I couldn't find a driveway.....all water!! So, I had to back up down a flooded street just to find another way out. It is a mess out there and I don't think I've ever driven in so much flooding in my life!! I'll have to get back to ya on rain totals....my gauge was overflowing at 5 inches when I was finally able to dump it and there was a few more inches in it last I checked. I'm glad to be home now....it's dangerous out there.

The rain let up for a little while but now it's raining pretty hard again.

I'm posting a few of the pics that I took.

The first one is the road I was stuck on and had to back out of.





This is another view down a flooded street I got stuck on.





Here's my mom's neighbor.




Another flooded area I found myself in.




Here's a flooded underpass that I usually go under. This is after the rain had let up for a little while but it's raining pretty hard again.

[breeze]

Girl!!! You stay put, somewhere! You ARE
staying home, right? :o

OK...I'm a "worry-wart",
but, you keep yourself situated! The drowned
rat had better keep dry!

[Stormsfury]

HOLY CRAP!!!

[southerngale]

I'm not going anywhere else breeze!! Don't worry about that....I'm in for the night. Those pics were taken after the rain had let up and now it's raining again!! I'm not kidding...that was the hardest, heaviest rain I recall since Allison and it was just weird. I was fine until I got stuck and had to try and back up through flooded waters when it was hard to see the street. That was kinda creepy.

[Stormsfury]

Very heavy and widespread rainfall totals estimated by Doppler Radar from Southeast Texas tonight.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/radar/latest/DS ... khgx.shtml

[breeze]

I'm glad you're safe! Whew!!

[vbhoutex]

AND I THOUGHT IT WAS BAD HERE!!!!YIKES!!!!!!

GLAD YOU ARE OK!! Looks like it is finally move SE out of here!!! Of course with you 80 m iles East of me it is going to take some time for you to clear out.

[CajunMama]

Gee Whiz Frack! You need to ask Galveston Duck if you can borrow her webbed feet! Quack! Glad you're ok!

[breeze]

LOL, Kathy, she's gonna need them feet,
fer sure!

[Colin]

Wow...some nasty flooding there! :o The good news about flash flooding is it tends to dry quicker then river flooding...good luck!

[southerngale]

Well, I got at least 8 inches!!

I don't know for sure because when I first dumped my rain gauge, it was overflowing with 5 inches...so I don't know exactly how much I got.

[Guest]

I wish my digital camera was working and it wasn't dark - I would go and take pictures of my flooded yard. Oh well - I would say I had close to 7 inches - don't really know - the rain gauge was overflowing at 5 inches.

Now where is my coldfront?

Patricia

[wx247]

Ya'll stay safe. That is a boatload of water... no pun intended.

Hopefully you can dry out tomorrow.

[southerngale]

Dang ticka....lots of rain there too!!

Here's an article from a Beaumont news channel (KFDM):

Drivers close to downtown also saw high water. It was high enough to leave hundreds of people stranded.
Kathleen Mitchell waded down Eleventh Street, where many parts of the road were covered with water up to your waist.
Some vehicles were able to make it through, but only trucks with large tires.
Dozens of SUV's and cars are stuck, some even floating in the street.
Drivers say all the rain fell so fast there was nowhere for it to go.
It's a sea of cars, literally.
And Charles Daigle would know.
He's been trying to fish them out along Eleventh Street.
Charles Daigle:
"Been pushing cars out of the way, drying distributor caps, trying to get everything running."
But he was too late for some.
Bobby Todd:
"I went down Calder, came back. It's getting deeper that way. I got to the back of Saint Elizabeth's Hospital and stalled out."
So dozens of people like Bobby Todd spent the evening at their favorite breakfast place, Dunkin Donuts, and at other businesses along 11th Street.
Bobby Todd:
"There's 100 people here I'd say."
Kathleen Mitchell:
"After more than seven inches of rain, few people are coming on or getting off 11th Street without oars, and those people who have cars spending the night here say they've got advice for you."
"Stay away from Eleventh Street. It's the most flooded from what I've seen."

Here's a pic from the KFDM website. (KFDM News picture of man sitting on car in flooded parking lot of old Wal-Mart store off Highway 69 in Beaumont)

[weatherlover427]

HOLY CRAP is right! :o :o :o :o DAAAAANG! You stay safe and don't you go anywhere unless your lives are in danger! :o We don't want a drowned Storm2K'er on our hands!!

[AussieMark]

HOLLY CRAP THAT IS A LOT OF RAIN FOR A SMALL PERIOD OF TIME.....

<B>KEEP SAFE KELLY</B>

[southerngale]

Very heavy and widespread rainfall totals estimated by Doppler Radar from Southeast Texas tonight.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/radar/latest/DS ... khgx.shtml

Right now it's showing the same times but the Lake Charles storm total is different for Beaumont than that Houson total for Beaumont. I wonder why.

Anyway, regardless, I know real totals from real folks and these don't seem to be completely accurate for all areas. Oh well, I guess it's just an estimate, right?

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/radar/latest/DS.80stp/si.klch.shtml

[ColdFront77]

Kelly, those are some impressive flooding pictures!

The statement, "do not drive you car where water covers the road" is so very important.

Another one (as Jonathan pointed out yesterday)... from the National Weather Service, [the Ruskin, FL- Tampa Area office, for one, uses it.] ---> "TURN AROUND, DON'T DROWN"

Now where is my coldfront?

Here I am! ..Sorry, couldn't resist.

[Suzi Q]

SG, glad you made it safe and sound. I, like you, was completely amazed at the amount of rain that occurred . Stupid me went to Garden Ridge (must decorate for Halloween) and then HEB. Made it home ok from Garden Ridge, but for some STUPID reason felt the need to go to HEB to get a few groceries. HEB is 7 minutes from my house, it took me 25 minutes to get home and I went through water that I would NEVER subject my truck to. At one point, the water was splashing up to my windows (I drive a truck) as I was flooring it to get through the water. Water was within 1/4" of coming in my back door as I kept a careful eye over my fishies in the pond. Back yard is still a lake and I am seriously considering flood insurance. I can honestly say this is the first time I have been frightened by the weather. Glad all of our SE Texas members are safe and sound, albeit a little damper for the wear. On the bright side, at least we don't have to mow the yard (lake) this weekend! Oh, and for the recoprd, I had 6/25" of rain here. That'll teach me to whine about not getting any rain.

[JCT777]

SG - That is some unreal flooding! Those pictures certainly do tell the story. Stay safe, and hopefully you don't get any rain for a while! :o