Texas is basically a magnet for weird weather. If you've lived there for more than a week, you know the drill: it’s bone-dry for months, then suddenly the sky falls. When people ask when did the texas flood happen, they usually aren't looking for one single Tuesday in July. They're usually talking about one of the "Big Ones." Texas doesn't just have floods; it has era-defining deluges that rewrite maps and insurance premiums.
The truth? It happens all the time. But the ones that stick in the collective memory—the ones that actually changed how the state functions—are specific. We’re talking about the 1900 Galveston disaster, the 2017 nightmare of Harvey, and the weird "Memorial Day Floods" that seem to haunt the state every few years.
The Most Famous Answer: Stevie Ray Vaughan vs. Reality
Let's get the obvious one out of the way first. A lot of people asking when did the texas flood happen are actually thinking about the blues. Stevie Ray Vaughan’s iconic album Texas Flood dropped in 1983. But he didn't write the song. That was Larry Davis back in 1958.
The song refers to the massive storms of the late 1950s. Specifically, 1957 saw a brutal break in a multi-year drought. It rained so hard and so fast that the Brazos and Colorado rivers essentially became inland seas. If you're looking for the cultural "Texas Flood," that's your window. 1957. It was a year where the dust finally turned to mud, and then that mud washed away half the state's topsoil.
When the Rain Won't Stop: The Harvey Era (2017)
If you’re looking for the modern answer, the date is August 25, 2017.
Hurricane Harvey wasn't just a storm. It was a structural failure of the atmosphere. It hit the coast near Rockport as a Category 4, but the wind wasn't the story. The story was the stall. For days, the storm just sat there. It sucked moisture out of the Gulf like a straw and vomited it back down onto Houston and Southeast Texas.
Some areas saw over 60 inches of rain. Think about that. Five feet of water falling from the sky in less than a week.
Honestly, it changed the way people in Houston look at the clouds. You’ll see folks today who get genuine anxiety the second a thunderstorm lingers for more than twenty minutes. It’s a collective trauma. When did it happen? Late August 2017. But for the people who lost their homes, it's still happening in the form of elevated houses and skyrocketing flood insurance rates.
💡 You might also like: 39 Carl St and Kevin Lau: What Actually Happened at the Cole Valley Property
The "Memorial Day Flood" Phenomenon
Texas has this recurring nightmare that happens right around the end of May. It's weirdly consistent.
In 2015, the Memorial Day Floods destroyed parts of Wimberley and San Marcos. This was the event where the Blanco River rose 33 feet in just a few hours. It was a wall of water. It took out the Fischer Store Road Bridge. It swept away entire vacation homes.
- May 2015: The Blanco River surge.
- May 2016: Another round of massive flooding in Richmond and Rosenberg.
- May 1981: The "Memorial Day Flood" in Austin that killed 13 people and caused $36 million in damage.
Why May? It’s the collision of cool fronts and Gulf moisture. It creates a "training" effect where storms line up like railroad cars and pass over the same spot for hours. If you’re asking when the Texas flood happened and you’re thinking of Central Texas or the Hill Country, there is a very high statistical probability it happened in late May.
The Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900
We can't talk about Texas floods without the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history. September 8, 1900.
Back then, they didn't have satellites. They had a guy in a tower looking at a barometer and some telegrams from Cuba that people ignored. When the storm surge hit Galveston, the highest point on the island was only about 8 feet above sea level. The surge was 15 feet.
It wasn't just rain; it was the ocean moving indoors. Between 6,000 and 12,000 people died. It's the reason Galveston has a massive seawall today and why the entire city was literally jacked up by hand and filled with sand to raise the elevation. It was a flood that ended Galveston’s run as the "Wall Street of the South" and shifted the economic power to Houston.
Why Does Texas Flood So Badly?
It’s the geology.
📖 Related: Effingham County Jail Bookings 72 Hours: What Really Happened
A lot of Texas sits on what’s called "Flash Flood Alley." This is a stretch of land running through the Hill Country along the Balcones Escarpment. The ground there is mostly limestone. It’s hard. It doesn’t absorb water well. So, when it rains 10 inches in three hours, that water doesn't soak in. It runs downhill. Fast.
In places like Houston, the problem is different. It’s flat. Really flat. And the soil is heavy clay. Once that clay gets saturated, it’s like trying to pour water onto a concrete sidewalk. There’s nowhere for it to go except into the bayous, and once the bayous are full, it goes into the living rooms.
Tax Day and All Saints Day: The Odd Patterns
The 2016 Tax Day Flood in Houston (April 17-18) was another one for the record books. Some parts of Harris County saw 17 inches of rain in a single night.
Then you had the "All Saints Day" floods in October 2013 and 2015.
Basically, if there’s a holiday in Texas, there’s a decent chance a flood has been named after it. It sounds like a joke, but it’s how locals track time. You don't say "back in 2015," you say "during the Memorial Day Flood."
The Impact of Infrastructure
It’s not just about when did the Texas flood happen, but why it keeps happening in the same places.
Urbanization is a massive factor. Every time a new strip mall or apartment complex goes up in North Houston or Austin, more of that absorbent (though barely) soil is covered in asphalt. That increases runoff. The Addicks and Barker reservoirs in Houston—built in the 1940s—were designed to protect downtown, but during Harvey, they got so full the Army Corps of Engineers had to do "controlled releases." Those releases flooded thousands of homes that had never flooded before.
👉 See also: Joseph Stalin Political Party: What Most People Get Wrong
It’s a constant battle between engineering and an environment that is naturally prone to extremes.
Real-World Examples of Recent Totals
To give you an idea of the scale we're talking about, look at these numbers from different events:
- Tropical Storm Claudette (1979): Dropped 42 inches of rain in 24 hours near Alvin. That’s a U.S. record that stood for a long time.
- Tropical Storm Allison (2001): This was the "wake-up call" for Houston. It caused $5 billion in damage and flooded the Texas Medical Center, destroying decades of cancer research.
- October 2018: The Llano River in the Hill Country rose nearly 30 feet in 24 hours, washing away the FM 2900 bridge.
What You Should Actually Do About It
If you live in Texas or are moving there, knowing when the floods happened in the past is your best tool for the future.
Check the Historical Crests
Go to the National Weather Service (NWS) website and look up the river gauges near you. They list the historical crests. If your house is near a gauge that crested at 40 feet in 2017, and your slab is only at 38 feet, you have a problem.
Flood Maps are "Lies" (Mostly)
Okay, they aren't lies, but they are outdated the moment they’re printed. Just because you aren't in a "100-year floodplain" doesn't mean you won't flood. Ask the people in Kingwood or Meyerland who flooded in 2017 despite being in "low-risk" zones. Get the insurance anyway. It’s cheap if you’re in a low-risk zone, and it’s the only thing that will save you when the next "1,000-year event" happens three years after the last one.
Understand the "Turn Around, Don't Drown" Rule
It sounds like a cheesy PSA, but most Texas flood deaths happen in cars. Because the terrain is so hilly in some parts and so flat in others, water depth is deceptive. Six inches of moving water can knock you off your feet. Two feet can carry away an SUV.
Practical Steps for Homeowners
- Install Backflow Valves: This prevents sewer water from backing up into your house when the main lines are overwhelmed.
- Grade Your Yard: Ensure the land slopes away from your foundation. It’s simple, but a lot of builders get it wrong.
- Keep Gutters Clear: In a Texas downpour, your gutters are handling hundreds of gallons a minute. If they’re clogged with oak leaves, that water is going into your eaves.
- Document Everything: Take photos of your home, your belongings, and your serial numbers now. Store them in the cloud. If you're wading through waist-deep water, you won't be thinking about where your receipts are.
Texas is a beautiful place, but its weather is temperamental. The floods of the past—from 1900 to Harvey—are markers of what the landscape is capable of. They aren't just "freak accidents"; they are part of the state's natural cycle. Understanding that timing and those patterns is the only way to live there safely.
The next big flood? Nobody knows exactly when, but historically speaking, the "when" is usually sooner than you think. Stay weather-aware, keep your insurance current, and never trust a low-water crossing during a thunderstorm.
Actionable Insights for Texas Residents
- Audit your flood insurance: Most policies have a 30-day waiting period. If you wait until a storm is in the Gulf, it’s too late.
- Download the "Red Cross Emergency" app: It gives real-time alerts for your specific GPS location, which is more accurate than general county warnings.
- Locate your nearest "High Ground": Identify the specific streets in your neighborhood that sit higher. In many Texas towns, a difference of two blocks can be the difference between a dry garage and a total loss.
- Know your watershed: Visit the Texas Water Development Board website to see which river basin you live in. Knowing where your water drains helps you predict how fast local creeks will rise.