Every Memorial Day, we think about the horrible flood of 1981 that claimed 13 lives and caused over 35 million dollars of damage. The weather was not very predictable at the time, and the warning systems were not up to the task of alerting people to the sudden downpour that would cause so much chaos and tragedy.
Back when Whole Foods only had one store at 10th and Lamar, it flooded several times — 1981 was the worst, though.
Hopefully we will never have another tragedy like the 1981 floods, but the 2015 Memorial Day Weekend has been pretty awful.
On Saturday we were hit with straight-line winds that gusted up to 75 miles per hour. The winds were so strong, people thought it must have been a tornado. Trees were uprooted, branches flew through the air, shingles were ripped off of roofs. Almost everybody experienced some damage to their trees, homes, and cars.
That was Saturday. By Memorial Day Monday, just as people were starting to clean up from the wind damage, it started to rain,
….And rain,
……….And rain.
Wind Damage: The Parlor in Hyde ParkWind Damage: One of the light towers on the U.T. Intramural Fields came crashing down on 51st Street. Workers cleared the street the next day, but the overhead wires were still a mess when this picture was taken.The wind picked up bleachers from the Intramural Fields and slammed them into homes across the street. Photo by Kaitlin IngramThe wind storm really only lasted a few minutes, but in that time, dozens of trees were knocked over all over the neighborhood. Some people were very lucky that the trees didn’t cause much damage when they fell.Other people were not as lucky. Damage to property was extensive.Trees everywhere in the neighborhood took out fences and damaged houses.That’s a VW under that very large tree.Even when the trees didn’t break, a water-logged ground was not able to keep the trees from falling.The way the trees were twisted made a lot of people think that they must have been hit by a tornado, but the culprit was straight-line winds that were clocked over 70 miles per hour (comparable to a small hurricane).Branches mixed with shingles and flying debris, creating a huge mess all over the neighborhood.The huge sycamore on Nelray flew about 30 feet before hitting the ground.Flying branches took out fences and damaged property. Along Chesterfield, much of this debris (including this fence) was picked up by the flood and carried downstream to cause even more damage.On Monday, the epic (ahem.. sorry about that) downpour turned Waller Creek into a raging river.The view from the patio at Epoch Coffee was downright shocking.Much of the brush and debris that had been collected from Saturday’s wind-storm ended up washing downstream in Monday’s flood.Chesterfield and Nelray were under water for hours.The apartments along Waller Creek were especially vulnerable. At one point, the dumpster from the apartment complex ended up washing into the creek.As soon as the rain stopped, the water receded. Within minutes, the aftermath of the flooding was visible.Cars parked along Chesterfield were caught in the flood. Photo by Jeremy MayThe branches and fences and debris from the wind-storm that had been piled up next to the street on Sunday ended up floating downstream on Monday. The water is very dangerous, but the debris carried by the water can be deadly.When the flood waters receded some displaced wildlife was trying to find their way back home. Photo by Jeremy MayThe clouds after the rain were quite impressive, too. Photo by Jeremy MayJust a few minutes after the rain stopped, the flood-waters receded, and everybody came out to see how bad the damage was. Nobody was hurt, but a lot of people lost a lot of property. Downstream, central Austin was hit hard. When all was said and done, we had to count ourselves lucky and be grateful that it wasn’t worse.
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