Heavy Rains Caused Widespread Flooding in the San Angelo Area Friday: System Shifts Southeast

SAN ANGELO – San Angelo Police and Firefighters were kept busy Friday afternoon with several calls for water rescues mainly on the east side of the city as heavy rains inundated streets after a week of rain. 

Emergency communications indicated most water rescue calls were for stranded motorists who had driven through high water and their vehicles had stalled.  There were at least two calls for structure fires but no major damage has been reported as of Saturday morning.  

The widespread street flooding was caused by heavy rains falling on already saturated ground from 2.49 inches of rain that fell Monday through Thursday.  The National Weather Service office in San Angelo is reporting an additional 1.48 inches fell Friday, making a total of 3.97 inches for the week in what has otherwise been a severe drought year almost rivaling the drought year of record which occurred in 2011.  

Total precipitation for the year officially at the airport for San Angelo stands at 7.58 inches, which is 6.54 inches below average for the 3rd of September. 

The storm system that dumped the rain in the Concho Valley has shifted to the south and east Saturday morning.  Most of the rain that falls Saturday will be confined to the I-10 corridor from the Sonora Area to Kerrville and the Hill Country.  

There is a 50% chance of rain Saturday mostly in the southeast counties of the Concho Valley.  the cloud cover will keep afternoon high temperatures in the mid 80s.  Rain chances then drop to around 20% per day for the rest of the Labor Day weekend.  Any rain that does occur will be isolated and short lived but with the ground already saturated, isolated flooding could occur.  

The rain chance will hover around 20% for next week as most of the moisture needed for thunderstorm creation will have moved off to the east.  There is a tropical system off the coast of Baja California but it appears that system will past well to the west of the Concho Valley late in the week and will have little or no affect on weather here.