Even before the flooding in central Texas killed more than 100 people, the state was the leader in the U.S. flood deaths so far, partly because geography could trap stormwater channels into deadly delug worms, according to a study over decades.
According to a 2021 study in the journal Water, 1,069 people died in Texas from 1959 to 2019, one fifth of the 5,724 flood deaths in the 48 states at the time. This is 370 higher than the next nearest state, Louisiana.
Flooding is the country’s second leading weather cause, with an average of 145 deaths per year over the past decade, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Other floods this year have become fatal: Last month in San Antonio, 13 people died, including 11 driving to the water, thinking they can pass, they can pass, which is Hatim Sharif, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Texas San Antonio, who studies why people die in floods.
For several years, Sharif has urged state and local officials to integrate better emergency action plans to use flood forecasts and save lives by reminding people and closing fragile intersections where roads and water meet.
“In Kerr County, if they have an integrated warning system that uses rainfall predictions to predict the real-time impact of the ground, that can save many lives and can also help first responders know which locations will be submerged and which roads are out of reach,” Sharif said. “They could have acted.”
Experts say Texas has a lot of deaths due to its geography, population and size. The area hit by deadly floods recently is known as mountain torrents due to hills and valleys.
“Steep, hilly terrain creates rapid runoff and rapid streams as water enters rivers and land at a greater speed,” said Kate Abshire, head of NOAA’s Flood Services. “Rock terrain can aggravate the development of flash torrents and surging waters, as rock and clay soils do not allow infiltration of the ground.”
“Because the large amount of concrete and asphalt surfaces do not allow water to penetrate easily into the soil, urban areas are particularly prone to flash flooding,” she said.
Together with these hills, “You already have the Gulf of Mexico there, the largest hot water institution in the entire North Atlantic,” Jeff Masters, a former government meteorologist who co-founded Weather underground and is now in the climate link at Yale University. “So you are ready for the source of moisture that causes the flood.”
According to experts, many deaths across the country and in Texas are historically preventable. Masters say nothing is better than a statistic in Sharif’s study: 86% of flood deaths have been driven or walked into the flood since 1959.
Nearly 58% of the deaths are people from cars and trucks. It’s a problem, especially in Texas, as there are more than 3,000 places in hills and low areas, and roads cross streams and waterways without bridges or culverts, Sharif said.
“People in Texas love trucks and SUVs, especially trucks,” Sharif said. “They think trucks are tough, and I think that’s a factor. So sometimes they use big cars, SUVs or trucks and they say they can beat floods on the streets…especially at night. They underestimate the depth and speed of the water.”
Abu County said that not only did people ignore the Weather Service’s safety mantra: “turn around and don’t drown”, but the study found that many of these deaths occurred when people actively drove around roadblocks and obstacles blocked flooded roads.
Sharif said the latest Texas Mountain rural floods were flooded as many deaths surpassed the victims in one camp rather than those entering the water. The study shows that only about 8% of flood deaths in the past 60 years have occurred in permanent homes, mobile homes or camping.
The flood occurred at night on July 4, which is a common time for flood deaths. Sharif’s research found that more than half of the deaths occurred at night since 1959, when it was dark and people could not see much flooding or were not awake to warnings.
The study said that, in terms of demographics, about 62% of U.S. flood deaths were male.
“Rising behavior is often associated with men,” Sharif said. This is why most fatal car accident victims are men.
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