^{Houseboat going over Austin Dam during a 1935 flash flood;}

_{^{PICA 008484-A, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.}}

Welcome to the IFFL's research page. As the laboratory develops, the content of this page will also change, so we invite you to visit regularly.

If you have flash flood data you would like to make available to the public, or wish to offer suggestions regarding types of data that need to be made available here, please contact Pam Showalter (ps15@txstate.edu), directly.

At the bottom of the page you'll find a flash flood bibliography created and regularly updated by the Lovell Center's research assistant, Naizhuo Zhao. If you have material that should be included in the bibliography, please email it to JMLC@txstate.edu.

The link found, below, is to a website permanently hosting the results of a semester-long upper division undergraduate Geographic Information Systems (GIS) class project examining flash flood fatalities in Central Texas. The class is organized into teams that perform "real life" projects each semester. What is displayed, here, are the efforts of the first "IFFL Team", which we hope will form the foundation of a comprehensive database for Central Texas that can be expanded first regionally, then around the US and beyond. Feedback regarding this undergraduate effort is encouraged to help us improve their data collection methods and analytical approach.

Directly below the link are some of the maps produced by the Spring 2009 team.

Colleague Mark Fonstad of the Department of Geography, submitted these photos which he believes show the birth of a flash flood in 1999. Working at Vermejo Park Ranch in northern New Mexico he observed a rain-on-snow event in the Upper Basin of the Front Range, as shown in the picture at right.

Subsequent to that event, he photographed water crossing the road near some of the Park’s outbuildings, as seen below. He reports that the photos are deceptive because the water velocity was higher than it appears and the depth neared 18 inches. Because the flow was occurring outside any named creek bed, the photos may depict “overland flow”.

Later, as Dr. Fonstad was driving away from the Park, he stopped to take the image at right, illustrating higher sediment load and white foam created by the water’s churning of natural materials and minerals.

After the floodwaters receded, Fonstad took the final two images, below, off I-25, near Raton, NM; they are about 200 yards apart. The width of the flood and vegetation damage illustrate the increasingly destructive potential of the water as it moved down slope.

Cedar League, out of the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, writes that she performed a search for information, statistics and web pages associated with flash floods to "see what's out there" and found most information relates to floods, or floods/flash floods, making it difficult to locate data specifically regarding flash flooding. She then performed some analysis on flash flood statistics available from the NWS web page. The results for the US are as follows. In 2005, there were 28 flash flood fatalities (compared to 15 for floods); vehicle-related fatalities accounted for ~13, or 46%, of the deaths. In 2006, there were 59 flash flood fatalities (compared to 19 for floods); vehicle-related fatalities accounted for ~44, or 75%, of the deaths. And, in 2007, there were 70 flash flood fatalities (compared to 17 for floods); vehicle-related fatalities accounted for 49, or 70%, of the deaths. The Excel spreadsheed Ms. League created from the NWS National Climatic Data Center data for 2007is provided, below -- use of the spreadsheet in an article or paper should provide appropriate attribution to Ms. League.

Hatim Sharif, Associate Professor of Hydraulic Engineering (University of Texas-San Antonio) has contributed a Table of Flash Flood Fatalities that ranks US states over the years 1959-2007. The top ten states are reproduced, below. The entire Table is provided for downloading, at the bottom of this section--use of the Table in an article or paper should provide appropriate attribution to Dr. Sharif.

Rank   State      # of Fatalities

1         TX            840

2         PA           265

3         CA           246

4         SD           244

5         VA           237

6         CO          185

7         MO          174

8         MS          172

9         NC           155

10       WI            149

Don Huebner, a colleague in our department, provided a copy of a 1978 publication memorializing the "Great Texas Flood" caused by Tropical Storm Amelia. The publication is composed primarily of photographs, with some statistics as well as text derived from newspaper articles. Unfortunately, it is too large to provide here as a downloadable file -- if you'd like a copy, please send your request to JMLC@txtate.edu. In addition, we were unable to locate any information regarding the publisher (American News Service, Harrisburg, PA) -- if anyone knows that firm's current location and contact information, please provide that information using the email address, above.

Former USGS hydrologist Raymond M. Slade, Jr., author of over 100 reports about Texas' water resources (including, Major and Catastrophic Storms and Floods in Texas: 215 Major and 41 Catastrophic Events from 1853 to September 1, 2002 available at: http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2003/ofr03-193/cd_files/USGS_Storms/index.htm ), writes that he is seeking assistance with a project to, "study the effects of El Nino and La Nina on flood frequency for Hill Country streams". His preliminary findings indicate that flood frequency is more severe during El Nino periods. He has identified beginning/ending periods (month/year) for each El Nino and La Nina for the last 60 years, and needs help creating a program that can systematically identify ~1500 dates as beginning in an El Nino or La Nina based on those time-period definitions. While his funding is limited, he can offer joint report authorship if you assist with the project. Those who are interested should email Dr. Slade directly at: RAYMOND643@aol.com.

David Zane, of Texas' Department of State Health Services, writes that they have posted past epidemiology reports on their website: http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/comprep/rna/default.shtm. If you visit that website, you will find three reports that specifically deal with flash flood events: Storm-Related Mortality in Central Texas (1998), Storm-Related Mortality in Dallas County (1995), and Storm-Related Mortality in Southeast Texas (1994).

The Lovell Center's graduate research assistant, Naizhuo Zhao, has begun the process of compiling a comprehensive flash flood bibliography (see download link, below). This bibliography is a "work in progress" -- if you know of missing material, please send the references to JMLC@txstate.edu.

^{This page was last updated March 10, 2010}