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“Flash Flood Alley,” which includes San Marcos and Hays County, is a combination of several risk factors. In October, the region is susceptible to a mixture of weather elements from the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The addition of seasonal cold fronts just adds to the dangerous mix. City of San Marcos graphic

1998’s ‘perfect storm’

October Flooding
Wednesday, October 17, 2018

It’s not uncommon during the month of October for cold fronts to collide with moisture from the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico — in fact, so far this year it’s happened all around us. But 20 years ago this week, two Pacific hurricanes — Lester and Madeline – collided and then encountered one of those cold fronts over Central Texas. Then, the whole system stalled — right over San Marcos.

That perfect storm dumped more than 18 inches on the city over a 30-hour period and close to 30 inches during the duration of the Oct. 17-19 event.

A full 2,000 acres — 25 percent of the city, was underwater and two people died — though not in the city itself. According to figures from the city of San Marcos, 476 homes were affected, with two destroyed, 59 receiving major damage and 186 with damage considered minor.

Although it wasn’t primarily a Blanco River flood like those that plagued the region in May of 2015 and October of 2013 and 2015, many of the same areas were inundated. Blanco Gardens was one of the first, with teenage Daniel Guerrero — who went on to become San Marcos’ youngest and first Hispanic mayor 14 years later — one of those who were carried to safety in a front-end loader — the best equipment available at the time for high water evacuations.

As bad as it was, the city would have been much more devastated — with the loss of life much greater — if not for the series of five flood control dams built on Sink and Purgatory creeks upstream of San Marcos in the 1980s, a feat accomplished by the late Congressman J. J. “Jake” Pickle. The push to construct the dams came after three local children were killed in Purgatory Creek floodwaters in May 1970.

Assistant City Manager Laurie Moyer, who was in the Engineering Department at the time of the 1998 flood, recalled the five dams were one of the main lessons the city learned after those rains came.

“We overall appreciated the fact that we did have the existing flood control dams,” she said during a recent interview. “Without those (flooding) would have been tremendously worse.”

The city also realized more could be done, Moyer said. “We learned we had a long way to go in terms of just internal drainage within the city. After the flood, we made some improvements in Blanco Gardens,” she noted, but added that at the time, there was still a gap between city understanding and the reality of the present and future situation.

That hit home just three years later, when box culverts that emptied into the the Blanco River constructed in the wake of 1998 didn’t function as intended, instead backing water up into neighborhoods. “The neighborhood told us ‘this is not an improvement, this is worse,’” Moyer said. 

A better plan, and one that continues to work as intended, was the establishment of a drainage utility fee municipal water customers paid as part of their monthly bill.

“Drainage was paid for with general funds and we weren’t making progress,” Moyer recalled, noting San Marcos was one of the first cities in Texas to adopt a drainage utility fee. “We did an analysis for improvement, studied it and adopted it … It provided a funding mechanism outside of straight taxpayer dollars to start doing these improvements. It leaves the general fund for fire, police, transportation and all those other things. It made a tremendous difference.”

The immediate impact

The forecast was a nonchalant “rain all weekend,” and it came to fruition with a vengeance. True to history, the run-up to the flood was weeks of rainfall that assured saturated soils.

On Saturday the 17th, it poured all day. By mid-morning the regular low spots throughout the city were under from runoff backed up from storm drains already full. By mid-afternoon parts of the Texas State campus were inundated and a 3 p.m. Bobcat Homecoming football game against Nicholls State was postponed until 7. As that time neared, Dr. Jerome Supple, who was then the university’s president, canceled Homecoming festivities altogether. 

As nighttime fell, shelters were filling up. Initial reports indicated that 7,000 people were evacuated by emergency officials, with half of that number seeking shelter at San Marcos High School (then on Hwy. 123 where Goodnight is now), DeZavala Elementary School, and  the LBJ Student Center on the campus of what was then Southwest Texas State University. The San Marcos Activity Center was initially a designated shelter, but those who had managed to get there were later moved after the power went out.

Homes in Blanco Village and along Riverside Drive and near Purgatory Creek received from a few inches to nine feet of water. At one point, all roadways into San Marcos were overtopped with floodwaters — it’s worth noting that National Guard troop carriers were able to get through the water and arrive in town to help with evacuations from high water areas.

This wasn’t before the internet, but prior to the everyday dependence on the world wide web that came later. Cell phones existed, but the iPhone wouldn’t be released until nine years later. Power outages dotted the town, further complicating local communications. There wasn’t a local radio station either, except one, KIND radio, a “pirate” station broadcast out of Joe Ptak’s garage.

KIND-FM stayed live throughout that Saturday night, spreading news from people who called in about road closures, family members reunited, and even special deals. At one point, Valentino’s Pizza on LBJ was giving away pizza, provided people could reach downtown.

By midnight, the river in town had begun to fall and people were allowed back into areas that had been cut off, but  not necessarily flooded. At daybreak, many more ventured out to check on their homes and businesses.

Aftermath and beyond

Many returning to locations downstream of downtown San Marcos brought reminders of what month the flood had struck — a “pumpkin patch” of gourds for sale at Juan Veramendi Plaza had been scoured clean by the raging river, sending pumpkins far and wide — some many, many miles downriver. 

The following days brought bad news and good. The body of an 11-year-old girl, one of two children washed from an SUV attempting to cross a flooded road in Uhland in Caldwell County was recovered by divers, though the search for the other, a seven-year-old, continued.

Relief agencies poured into town and local, state and federal agencies worked with residents and businesses owners to initiate the proper paperwork. The city also went to work, Moyer recalled.

Just as happened after the floods of two years ago, FEMA flood insurance maps were revised and city officials pressed the federal agency to require more notification for people moving into areas that are flood prone. 

“After 1998, when so many people were impacted — maybe not really understanding as they purchased a house that they were in the flood plain. We went to FEMA and said, ‘You can’t show it this way — it’s not clear enough. We want these folks to know they are in a 100-year flood plain.’”

At the time, she noted, sophisticated elevation modeling — like so much of the technology enjoyed today — was not yet on the horizon.

It’s a vastly different story now, with residents able to personally monitor USGS gauges on the Blanco and San Marcos rivers, governmental officials sending text messages to residents in areas of concern and social media supplying realtime updates on conditions and individuals.

As the region has learned, it’s not if but when flooding will recur. Moyer said for all its dependence on the internet and social media, the city is fully prepared to — should local internet providers go out as they did during both floods in 2015 — put “boots on the ground” for door-to-door notifications if need be.

These past few weeks, city teams have “been on high alert,” she said, relying on not one but multiple weather sources for the most complete understanding of what’s to come. She cited the city’s emergency management coordinator Rachel Ingle as leading the readiness. “The same resources were not available in ‘98 … we’re much more aware of what’s developing.”

San Marcos Record

(512) 392-2458
P.O. Box 1109, San Marcos, TX 78666