Tropical Rainstorm Pamela Triggers Flashfloods, Killing 2 Including 5-Year-Old Girl in Texas

Tropical Rainstorm Pamela prompted flash flooding which caused the death of two people in Texas hill country. Rescuers saved a lot of children hanging on trees to escape from the flood.

Pamela Brings Flash Floods

Tuesday night into Wednesday, a portion of Texas was greatly affected by the latest in a long line of tropical systems, as torrential rain triggered flash flooding, leading to one high-water rescue at minimum in San Antonio.

But the storm that happened recently is different from any other that has affected the Gulf Coast states as yet this 2021.

On Thursday, Pamela became deadly after a girl, 5, and a woman were stuck in two different cars and carried away in floodwaters in Bexar County, Texas. First responders spent their entire day making effort to rescue both, but on Thursday officials confirmed that none survived.

As of Thursday evening, the woman and girl were the first death confirmed from Pamela. On Wednesday night, multiple water rescues needed to be carried out as roads were turned into rivers, and Bill Wadell from AccuWeather reported that some children were hanging on trees in Bexar County, Texas, waiting to be rescued.

Pamela's Impact

Jon Porter, AccuWeather Senior Vice President said: It is "pretty unusual for Pacific tropical systems to drive moisture into Texas and beyond."

Over the past 75 years, similar events have taken place only a few times and are usually associated with severe flash flooding, he added.

Initially, Pamela was shaped as a tropical depression on the 10th of Oct. being on Sunday, before slowly gaining strength into a hurricane causing landfall close to Estacion Dimas, Mexico on Wednesday morning.

Notable flooding was reported in regions near the landfall location, including in El Rosario, Mexico. In this region, hundreds of homes were flooded with water, Uno TV reported.

In the city of Mazatlan, Mexico, which is very populated, civil defense officials reveal there were some damage, power outages, rough surf, and flooding from Pamela, The Associated Press said. But this event was not as bad as regions to the south nearer to where landfall took place.

Torrential Rainfall

As Pamela travel through Mexico, tropical moisture moved powerfully across Texas late Wednesday through Thursday and flooding downpours were sent across highly populated regions of the Lone Star State.

The most intense rain concentrated around San Antonio and Austin, but areas farther north into Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas were soaked by downpours.

Around 3.5 inches of Pamela rain, which is just about 0.25 of an inch shy of the average rainfall which the city receives for all of October.

Over times two of that was received a few miles east in Gonzales, Texas, where upwards of 7 inches of rain took place in the same period. Southwest of Gonzales, radar calculations revealed a pocket of 8-10 inches of rain.

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