On August 2, 1978, I was about to be a junior at Huffman High School. I woke up early that morning to go to get my driver’s license. I know that because my license expires today.. Of course, my first activity each day was to listen to NOAA Weather Radio. Remember, these were the days before The Weather Channel and the Internet. It was a bonus when J.B. was on duty. And he was on this morning. J.B. was reading some dramatic flash flood warning bulletins from the National Weather Service in San Antonio. I sat mesmerized as J.B. transported his listeners to the stricken Hill Country Region of South Texas. I remember his first hand account of water so high that it was over a bridge over the Guadalupe River, I believe. It was probably a place that he had visited personally on one of his trips to the West. He brought the emergency to life.
Tropical Storm Amelia never had winds above 50 mph. It crossed into South Texas on July 30th after only a few hours as a named storm. It moved to a position northwest of San Antonio. Heavy rains started falling on the evening of August 1st, enhanced by the diurnal cycle that decaying tropical cyclones often make after landfall. Heating from the sun warms the atmosphere during the daytime, and shower activity diminishes. As nighttime cooling occurs, the atmosphere destabilizes, and showers and storms increase. By the morning of August 2nd, disastrous flooding was occurring on the Guadalupe River. The official NWS cooperative observer at Medina measured 32 inches of rain in the 24 hours ending at 7 a.m. on August 2nd. Rainfall rates exceeded 4 inches per hour at times. Mr. Roland Manatt, near Medina, started measuring the rain in a tin can. He had to move to a fruit jar as the excessive rains continued. Emptying it each time it became full, Manatt measured forty eight inches of rain in a fifty two hour period. He stayed awake for two straight days, dumping his makeshift rain gauge as the rains continued.
Disastrous flooding occurred on several rivers in Central Texas, but the worst was along the Guadalupe River. The Guadalupe River crested at 46.62 feet at Bandera. This was an amazing nineteen feet above the Highway 173 bridge in Bandera. Twenty seven people drowned in the Hill County as a result of the flooding.
Tropical Storm Amelia never had winds above 50 mph. It crossed into South Texas on July 30th after only a few hours as a named storm. It moved to a position northwest of San Antonio. Heavy rains started falling on the evening of August 1st, enhanced by the diurnal cycle that decaying tropical cyclones often make after landfall. Heating from the sun warms the atmosphere during the daytime, and shower activity diminishes. As nighttime cooling occurs, the atmosphere destabilizes, and showers and storms increase. By the morning of August 2nd, disastrous flooding was occurring on the Guadalupe River. The official NWS cooperative observer at Medina measured 32 inches of rain in the 24 hours ending at 7 a.m. on August 2nd. Rainfall rates exceeded 4 inches per hour at times. Mr. Roland Manatt, near Medina, started measuring the rain in a tin can. He had to move to a fruit jar as the excessive rains continued. Emptying it each time it became full, Manatt measured forty eight inches of rain in a fifty two hour period. He stayed awake for two straight days, dumping his makeshift rain gauge as the rains continued.
Disastrous flooding occurred on several rivers in Central Texas, but the worst was along the Guadalupe River. The Guadalupe River crested at 46.62 feet at Bandera. This was an amazing nineteen feet above the Highway 173 bridge in Bandera. Twenty seven people drowned in the Hill County as a result of the flooding.