Texas' "extreme" drought is over

[Miguel]

Look east, California.

Five years of extreme drought have come to a dramatic end in Texas and Oklahoma as a month of heavy rains has replenished reservoirs, dampened parched soil across both states and unleashed floodwaters on vulnerable residents.

A downpour this weekend pushed rivers far over their banks in central Texas, where flooding devoured hundreds of rural homes between Austin and San Antonio. At least 2,000 people fled to emergency shelter as helicopters rescued residents from rooftops and bridges snapped apart like Graham crackers. At least one person was dead and three others were missing as of Sunday afternoon.

...Sunday's flooding in Texas was especially dramatic in the town of Wimberley, population 2,582, where Hays County officials estimated more than 350 homes have been destroyed.

The Blanco River rose from about 5 feet at 10 p.m. Saturday to more than 40 feet at 1 a.m., well past its record high of 33 feet, according to National Weather Service river data.

^ 12 people are still missing, nine of them were from two families staying in the vacation home of dentist from Corpus Christi that was swept away. One man survived. He was found 12 miles down river and suffered a fractured sternum, broken ribs, and concussion.

The Texas flooding comes after months of wetter-than-normal weather and less than a week after officials logged an absence of extreme drought in any part of Texas or Oklahoma for the first time in five years.

The category "extreme drought" means that officials expect major crop and pasture losses along with widespread water shortages or restrictions.

At the peak of Texas' brutal drought in 2011 — which drew comparisons to the Dust Bowl days of the Great Depression — 97% of the state was under extreme drought or worse. A year ago, it was 40%.

Now, it's 0%. The figures in Oklahoma are similar.

That's compared with 67% of California under extreme drought or worse right now.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-texa...tml#page=1

Lake Travis (big lake near Austin) storage is up 200,000 acre feet in the last week. That's about a 65 billion gallon increase.

Lake Travis is up 20 feet. It's 30 feet from returning to its normal level.