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Tropical Storm Harvey likely to inundate Texas with 25 trillion gallons of water
27
August, 2017
Tropical
Storm Harvey has dropped more than 11 trillion gallons of water on
Texas, triggering catastrophic, unprecedented flooding in the Houston
area. The rains have broken all-time records, exceeding the rainfall
totals seen during Tropical Storm Allison in 2001.
There
may be no parallel available to any other rainstorm in U.S. history,
based on the number of people affected, amount of water involved, and
other factors, meteorologists have warned.
Due
to its wide geographic scope across America's 4th-largest city, the
ensuing flood disaster may rank as one of the most, if not the most,
expensive natural disaster in U.S. history.
According
to Ryan Maue, a meteorologist at WeatherBell, a private forecasting
firm, there is still up to 16 trillion gallons more rain likely to
fall in the state, based on forecasts from the National Weather
Service (NWS).
The
Weather Service office in Houston reported just over 2 feet of rain
in 24 hours between 7 a.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. Sunday morning,
causing August to become the wettest month on record there. Forecast
totals call for isolated rainfall amounts of up to 50 inches before
Harvey finally releases its grip on the Lone Star state late this
week. If this comes to fruition, it would be the greatest rainfall
totals from a tropical storm or hurricane in U.S. history.
Maue
estimates that a total of around 25 trillion gallons may be the final
statewide rainfall total for Harvey, which is such a unique storm due
to its slow-moving nature that the NWS has nearly run out of
superlatives describing it.
This event is unprecedented & all impacts are unknown & beyond anything experienced. Follow orders from officials to ensure safety. #Harvey
According to a tweet the NWS sent, "this event is unprecedented & all impacts are unknown & beyond anything experienced."
With
more rain to come, and rivers still rising to expected
record-shattering crests early this week, the disaster continues to
unfold.
According
to the Capital Weather Gang blog, 9 trillion gallons of rain have
fallen in Southeast Texas alone. This, Matthew Cappucci reported, "Is
enough to fill the entire Great Salt Lake in Salt Lake City —
twice!"
"If we averaged this amount of water spread equally over the lower 48 states, that’s the equivalent of about 0.17 inches of rain — roughly the height of three pennies stacked atop each other — occupying every square inch of the contiguous United States," he wrote.
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