Dallas Readies Emergency Operations Center as City Braces for More Floods

Texas has suffered through years with basically no rain. As my West Texas-dwelling grandmother was fond of telling my drought-bemoaning grandfather, it shouldn't be a surprise. After all, she'd say, we live in the middle of the desert. In May though, across the state and in Dallas specifically, the seemingly...

By Stephen Young

June 16, 2015

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Texas has suffered through years with basically no rain. As my West Texas-dwelling grandmother was fond of telling my drought-bemoaning grandfather, it shouldn't be a surprise. After all, she'd say, we live in the middle of the desert. In May though, across the state and in Dallas specifically, the seemingly endless drought broke, seemingly all at once. We got more rain in the first 141 days of 2015 than all of 2014 and got more than 8 inches of rain during the last week of May only. The rains refilled reservoirs, caused flash floods and, by the time they ended, were more of a looming menace than a respite.

Now, we're about to meet Bill. Tropical Storm Bill is biding its time in the Gulf of Mexico, gathering strength before it dumps what the National Weather Service says could be a tremendous amount of rain on DFW between Tuesday and Thursday. The city of Dallas, through spokeswoman Sana Syed, says it expects 5 inches, but the NWS has said Dallas could be hit by as much a 10. As such, Dallas will be under a flash flood warning from 6 p.m. Tuesday until Thursday.

Tornadoes are also possible, but additional flooding is the greatest severe weather risk, according to our fine local weather people. The long and short of it: Get ready for a bunch more of the flooded Trinity River at sunset photos.

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