Incident Period: September 10, 2018 – November 02, 2018
Major Disaster Declaration declared on February 25, 2019
Prolonged and cascading weather impacts from several successive weather patterns, including tropical Atlantic moisture and impacts from Pacific hurricanes, hit Texas from September 10, 2018 through October 28, 2018 causing catastrophic river flooding. Numerous heavy rain events created cascading effects, saturating soils and preventing sensitive river basins from recovering.
Texas experienced historic river flooding along the Llano and Colorado River basins with major flood waves on the Brazos, Trinity, and Nueces Rivers. Catastrophic flooding in the Colorado River basin led to unprecedented releases into the Highland Lakes, necessitating the Lower Colorado River Authority to conduct massive river releases. These releases overwhelmed the city of Austin’s water and wastewater treatment plants due to the high amounts of silt in the floodwaters and caused a city wide water crisis.
Texas received a presidential disaster declaration on February 25, 2019 for severe weather and flooding for 33 Texas counties. This made FEMA’s Public Assistance (PA) program available to governments and certain non-profits in the designated counties.