SAN ANTONIO — Severe weather tends to visit San Antonio this time of year as two big floods took place during Memorial Day weekend back in 2013 and 2015. Multiple water rescues and record rainfall around San Antonio and Bexar County took place on Sat. May 25, 2013 when multiple creeks became flooded, especially in Olmos Basin near the Quarry Market. Here roads were closed for several days as one rain gauge recorded over six inches in one hour.
Let's take a look back
Why was flooding so bad?
The Friday before record rainfall took place there were parts of San Antonio that received over two inches of rain the day before. The next day thunderstorm activity produced the second highest amount of rainfall within 24 hours with of 9.87 inches, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
Another reason flooding was so severe was rain came very hard very fast. NWS says four inches of rain fell in just one hour between 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. Saturday and some observers reported over 11 inches of rain. This led to flooding at multiple San Antonio area creeks and rivers to reach major flood stage.
Above is a photo near the Quarry Market, an area where a rain gauge on Olmos Creek and Dresden Drive reported over two inches of rain in only 15 minutes around 6:15 a.m., NWS said. As heavy rain continued the water rose to over six inches in just one hour, nine inches in two hours, 15 inches in five hours and finally 17 inches when the day was over, according to NWS.
The flooding provided scary situations that led to hundreds of calls for water rescues early morning Saturday. Video shows streets becoming rivers and lakes as fast rushing water swept cars away. A VIA bus was swamped by the high water on 281 in south San Antonio but luckily all passengers were safely evacuated.
Two fatalities were reported inside Bexar County with one woman killed as her car was pulled by rushing waters along Leon Creek, according to NWS.
Flood waters flowed into San Antonio homes fast as additional flooding from creeks and rivers pushed downstream to the southern portion of Bexar County. Espada Road by the San Antonio River was flooded and a mobile home park near Leon Creek engulfed by water.
Most of the flooding took place in north-central and northwest San Antonio. Below is a map showing where the heaviest rain fell in Bexar County. The center area in pink represents 11-14 inches of rain and the light pink over 15 inches.
Other areas that experienced major flooding in San Antonio:
- Medina River
- Leon Creek
- San Antonio River
- Olmos Creek
- Salado Creek
According to NWS most of the homes destroyed were in Espada area in southeast Bexar County.
KENS 5 spoke with Celia Olivarez in 2013 and spoke about her scary experience as her home flooded. She lived in the Mission Espada area and said waters rose 20 feet in mere seconds. Olivarez says her family narrowly escaped what she described as a mini tsunami and her 80-year-old aunt had to be rescued from high waters.
Another resident survivor, Bernice Sanchez and her family counted their blessings as they also began surveying the damage done by flood waters in 2013. She said the San Antonio River crept 3 feet into her home and planned to rebuild her home despite record flooding.
"Nobody is going to abandon these houses...everybody is going to repair them because it's heritage, it's family," Sanchez told KENS 5.
The Memorial Day Weekend flood of 2013 produced so much rainfall that a portion of the Mission Parkway low water crossing area was picked up and moved several feet from its original spot, according to San Antonio River Authority's website.
Two years later in 2015 flooding occurred but this time it was the Blanco and San Marcos Rivers effected the most with rainfall totals over 20 feet in some spots. Parts of Bexar County received around 9 to 11 inches from May 23 to May 24, according to NWS.