Flood Threat Takes Aim at Texas, Louisiana Into Early Next Week

 Chris Dolce

Published: June 4, 2021

Heavy rain could create more flooding woes in parts of Texas and Louisiana into early next week, where the ground remains waterlogged from one of the wettest Mays on record.

Already, areas of locally heavy rain have broken out in parts of coastal Texas and Louisiana.

Several roads were flooded Thursday in parts of Travis County near Austin and street flooding was also reported in parts of the Houston metro area as a band of heavy rain lined up from east Texas to Deep South Texas.

By this weekend, a new upper-level low-pressure system is expected to form over the Lone Star State. That low will slowly move eastward across the state into early next week.

The sluggish low, in tandem with Gulf of Mexico moisture, will give rise to more widespread rain and thunderstorms. That could fuel a heightened threat of flooding from southern, central and eastern Texas eastward into Louisiana, possibly into parts of Arkansas and Mississippi.

Much of this area is likely to pick up at least an inch of rain through early next week.

Multi-inch rainfall totals are also likely in some areas, especially where bands of heavy rain persist for hours at a time, or in locations that are hit repeatedly over multiple days.

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It's not possible to pinpoint the exact areas that might see flooding into next week since that will be dependent on smaller-scale details that can't be determined days in advance. But be aware of the potential threat if you are in a flood-prone location or are traveling.

Rainfall Forecast

Never try to drive your vehicle through a road that's covered by any depth of water in a flash flood. It's always best to turn around and find another route or delay your trip, even if it disrupts important plans.

It's easy to misjudge the depth of flood water, particularly at night. Sometimes the bridge or road masked by floodwaters may have been undermined or completely washed out.

Flooding this year has already killed 13 people in the U.S. through May, according to statistics compiled by the National Weather Service in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Seven of those deaths happened while driving, including the most recent incident in southeast New Mexico last Sunday.

One of the Wettest Mays on Record

Rainfall repeatedly soaked portions of Texas and Louisiana last month, vaulting several cities to one of their wettest Mays on record.

Victoria, Texas, picked up just over 20 inches of rain, ranking as its wettest May and also its second-wettest month for any time of year.

May ranked among the five wettest on record in Corpus Christi and Port Arthur, Texas, and in Baton Rouge, Lake Charles and New Orleans, Louisiana.

The 20.5 inches of rain Lake Charles picked up in May vaulted the city to its wettest spring on record. The southwest Louisiana city picked up 31.83 inches of rain from March through May, piling onto a miserable stretch of weather the city has endured since Hurricane Laura last August.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.