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Heavy rainfall, flash flooding in Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas forces more than 3,500 evacuations, hundreds of road closures


March 11, 2016   by Canadian Underwriter


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Heavy rainfall and flash flooding in Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas that began this week has inundated more than 200 homes, and led to more than 3,500 evacuations and hundreds of road closures, according to catastrophe risk modelling company Risk Management Solutions, Inc. (RMS).

Shreveport, Louisiana received more than 16 inches of rain since Tuesday. Photo: @Van_Derzee

 Jeff Waters, RMS’s manager of model product management, explained in a statement that a strong upper-level disturbance over Mexico and a high pressure system off the east coast of the United States “created a narrow convergence zone over the south central U.S., funnelling significant amounts of tropical moisture from the Eastern Pacific and Gulf of Mexico to parts of Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas.” Waters added that “the atmospheric conditions driving this event are extremely rare.”

As a result of the atmospheric river, parts of Louisiana, such as Shreveport, received over 16 inches of rain since Tuesday, resembling the 200-year return period (0.5% chance of occurring in a given year), according to meteorological engineering company MetStat. In northern Louisiana, rainfall runoff into local water bodies have caused a few rivers and lakes to come close to or exceed their highest water levels on record, such as the Bayou Dorcheat at Lake Bistineau and the Sabine River near Burkeville, Waters said.

Related: More rain soaks north Louisiana, the SE part awaits the same

As of Thursday afternoon, 14 United States Geological Survey river gauges in Louisiana and Texas were at major flood stage. At the same time, parts of the northeast experienced temperatures 30 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than normal, breaking many all-time records.

Waters said that potentially affected cities over the next two days include Houston, Austin, Shreveport, Little Rock, Jackson, New Orleans, Memphis, and Mobile. By March 12 and 13, when the rain has had time to flow into rivers, several rivers are forecast to crest at near-record flood levels.

On Thursday, the Louisiana Department of Transportation & Development said in a release that several local and state roads were closed due to high water and flash flooding. “Roads deemed impassable are likely to be closed by state and/or local officials,” the release said. “Other parts of Louisiana are likely to be impacted to by this storm system as it moves east across the state.”

Due to continued severe weather and flooding risk throughout the state, all state government offices in 40 parishes were closed beginning Thursday and remained closed through Friday.


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