What would 12" of rain do to you?

[tallyho8]

Last night we had a powerful thunderstorm here in southeast Louisiana and we had 12" of rain. This morning the ground is wet with a few puddles around but I have not heard of any major damage or flooding in our area. The areas around us are very flat so the water is distributed evenly unlike those who live in mountainous terrain where all the water runs down the mountains and floods the valleys in 20' of water. Our water gently flows through the ditches to the canals to the drainage pumps and gets pumped into the lake.

I was wondering what effect 12" of rain would have on those who lived in other parts of the country, or the world?

 

[EddieWalker]

We had 8 inches in two days a few years ago, and the damage was pretty severe. Allot of culverts got washed out, roads eroded along the edges pretty badly and there was quite a few places where the water was over the roads and bridges, causing them to be closed. Trees feel over on houses, cars and blocked roads, as well as quite a few power lines that were knocked down.

My guess is 12 inches in one day would do all of that again, but to a much larger degree!!!!! It just takes so much longer for the water to drain away then it does to fall from the sky.

Glad to hear your still with us and you're not reporting any damage.

Eddie

 

[Tig]

12" might erode the corner of my property. It's a point at the mouth of a river. Each year it grows and grows but some years in spring it will erode 10 feet or so and start over.

 

[charlz]

Fill up the lake? This whole area (rural) is set up for flood irrigation so this time of year, no water in the ditches, I would expect it to all drain away. Quite possibly a lot of erosion in the fields as there are no crops right now.

Now, if you live in an urban area around here there is no large-scale drainage plan so I would expect a lot of problems. We have one high $$$ subdivision that is built on an island in the river... they have problems when the water is high so they would likely get flooded. A few years back some of them were screaming and crying, going to sue the city about high waters and everyone was saying "You bought a house on a island in the river... what did you expect?" I love that 'country' attitude.

 

[jinman]

Dudley, if as much federal tax money had been spent here as on levees and dams in So. Louisiana, I would surely hope that there was no danger from flooding. I'm glad you have such a good system, but frankly, we as tax payers cannot afford to protect every area of the country with the same level of expenditures.

That said, a 12" rain in my area will make our little soil conservation lake rise to a level that will send it over the emergency spillway. That's about 20' above overflow. I've included a picture showing what 9" of rain did over 3 days. The lake came up about 12' and my ponds were just part of the lake. By the next morning, water had gone down about 3'. It would not have been quite the impact if the water had not started at the normal full level before getting another 9" of rain. All of that rain was runoff and our lake rises about 1-1/2 feet for every 1" of 100% runoff rain. I've included two pictures showing my pond at it's normal full level and another the night of the flood when the lake in the background crested above the level of my pond dams.

 

[Bird]

Yep, 12" of rain in one day would cause some major flooding in some parts of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. I don't really think my home would flood, but I do have flood insurance anyway.

 

[tallyho8]

Dudley, if as much federal tax money had been spent here as on levees and dams in So. Louisiana, I would surely hope that there was no danger from flooding. I'm glad you have such a good system, but frankly, we as tax payers cannot afford to protect every area of the country with the same level of expenditures.

Morning Jim,

As much federal money as has been spent on levees (no dams) in southeast Louisiana, not a cent has been spent to protect us from rainfall. The federal levees are only to protect us from storm surge from the gulf in a hurricane event. If anything, the levees make it harder for the rains to get across the levees and drain into the lakes. And, as we have all found out, there would be less flooding from hurricanes in the area if the feds had never built any levees at all in Louisiana.

The most rain that we ever had in my lifetime was from a tropical storm about 10 years ago when we had 18" in 24 hours. This put many streets under water and flooded homes built in low lying areas where they never should have allowed homes to be built.

But flooding in our flatland area is not as dangerous as flooding in the hills because the water flows gently instead of gushing down the hillsides.

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

that much raid would flood my whole hollow.....no joke.......at least where i live now...

that much out on the property wouldn't matter.........well, at all......i looked for this when i bought land....i've learned my lesson where i live now...

 

[WarrenF]

Fill up the lake? This whole area (rural) is set up for flood irrigation so this time of year, no water in the ditches, I would expect it to all drain away. Quite possibly a lot of erosion in the fields as there are no crops right now.

Now, if you live in an urban area around here there is no large-scale drainage plan so I would expect a lot of problems. We have one high $$$ subdivision that is built on an island in the river... they have problems when the water is high so they would likely get flooded. A few years back some of them were screaming and crying, going to sue the city about high waters and everyone was saying "You bought a house on a island in the river... what did you expect?" I love that 'country' attitude.

Putting a bit more flesh on the story charlz has told about the subdivision on the island.....the name of the subdivision is "The Islands." The head of the home owners association was an attorney. He was the one that was driving the "sue the city, state, or any other government agency" for the high water flow around their subdivision. When the story broke in the local papers, the letters to the editor and comments online regarding the story were so bad and so angry.....I believe the attorney had to change his name and move to Africa. The final outcome of the story is that the homeowners REMOVED him from the Presidency job....and in essence said we are sorry and embarrassed by this jerk.

 

[czechsonofagun]

Finally top my pond, it is low for a year or so now.