Floods in south-central Texas, June 1997

Severe flooding in parts of 18 south-central Texas counties resulted from heavy rainfall during June 21-22, 1997. Of the 18 counties in the study area (fig. 1), all except Kimble, Gillespie, and Travis were declared Federal disaster areas. Kimble and Gillespie Counties were later declared eligible for disaster assistance. The majority of the property damage occurred along Cibolo Creek in Kendall and Guadalupe Counties, the Medina River in Bandera County, and the Llano River in Mason and Llano Counties (Jack Quarrels, Federal Emergency Management Agency, oral commun., 1997). The total property damage for which owners were eligible for disaster assistance was estimated to be $10.4 million (Jack Quarrels, written commun., 1997). Several rain gages and streamflow-gaging stations located in the 18-county area were available for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to assess the magnitude and historical perspective of the flooding. This fact sheet summarizes maximum rainfall and streamflow and associated recurrence intervals for selected rain gages and streamflow-gaging stations (fig. 1) in the 18-county study area during June 21-23, 1997.