![]() ![]() And recently the atmospheric set-up over the region was just perfect to tap into that for the creation of long-lasting heavy rains. With a close proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, moisture is never that far away. This shouldn’t surprise you, but the Gulf Coast is a humid place. The culprit was a seemingly endless supply of moisture and a slow-moving cluster of thunderstorms. That means that two of the top-ten wettest days on record in Lake Charles have happened in the last eight months. The one-day rainfall total (9.53 inches) from Hurricane Delta in early October were the ninth-wettest on record for the city. Lake Charles is still recovering from a double whammy of hurricanes-Hurricanes Laura and Delta-that made landfall just six weeks apart last summer. This event is just another in a growing list of weather catastrophes to affect this portion of the Gulf Coast. The governor of Louisiana even declared a state of emergency due to the amount of rain and flooding. ![]() In Lake Charles, over 100 calls for rescues were made as nearly half the roads in the parish were under some water, according to CNN. According to news reports, the resulting flash flooding led to at least one fatality, turned roads into rivers, submerged cars and inundated homes and businesses across southwestern Louisiana. There is simply no way for a community to deal with that much water falling all at one time. Overall, a huge swath of the region observed at least six inches of rain on May 17. And that’s a history that includes multiple landfalls of incredibly wet hurricanes! Meanwhile, just over the border in Texas, Port Arthur/Beaumont, an area very familiar with astonishing rainfall totals-Hurricane Harvey dropped 26 inches of rain in one day back in 2017-observed 9.86 inches of rain, its eighth-wettest day on record. Lake Charles observed 12.49 inches of rain in just one day-six inches of which fell in just two hours-making May 17, 2021, the third-wettest day in the city’s history. The result was precipitation totals measured in feet. Map by NOAA, based on AHPS data from the National Weather Service.Ī slow-moving cluster of thunderstorms allowed torrential rain to fall for hours on May 17 in southwestern Louisiana and neighboring Texas. Several areas received more than a foot of rain. Cumulative precipitation over May 17-18, 2021 across Texas and Louisiana. ![]()
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