Significant flooding events leave their mark on the Houston area every so often. The Memorial Day storms demonstrated again how harrowing these rains can be in the U.S.'s fourth largest city.
The Waterhole Totem convenience store was among hundreds of businesses temporarily shut down after Tropical Storm Claudette flooded the areas around Pearland. (07/26/1979)
Michael Murphy/© Houston Chronicle
Over the past half-century, the most biblical of these floods occurred when Tropical Storm Claudette made landfall in late July 1979. After Tropical Storm Allison walloped the Bayou City in 2001, the Houston Chronicle wrote on that catastrophic event's place in history. In some parts of the city, Allison left a deluge nearing 40 inches. Claudette brought down more waters in Alvin and surrounding Brazoria County.
Advertisement
Article continues below this ad
Only Tropical Storm Claudette stands as Allison's liquid rival. In July 1979 Claudette dumped 43 inches on Alvin in one day — a national record.
"That's more than this one, but we're on our way," said Gregg Waller, meteorologist for the National Weather Service's regional office in Fort Worth.
"1979 was always the Mother Lode. It's always '79-this and '79-that," he said.
Advertisement
Article continues below this ad
Claudette was a virtual twin to Allison — not a brutish hurricane, but a small tropical storm that slipped ashore and stayed put.
Despite all the water, Claudette's death toll only totaled one direct death in Texas. Tropical Storm Allison killed 22, while the downpour this week killed at least eight in the Houston area and 22 so far statewide.
See photos taken during Tropical Storm Claudette and the epic flooding that followed in the gallery above.
