High Water in Big D...

It rained the weekend before last. A lot.

So much rain fell that much of North Texas experienced flooding - especially on Sunday afternoon (the 19th of March) around 2 or 3 PM. We aren't talking a little bit of water here, folks. No, no. It was a genuine FLASH FLOOD.

Anyway, two Sundays ago, I had lunch with my sister in Snider Plaza. We were enjoying crab cakes and shrimp quesadillas at Picardy's Shrimp Shop (a personal favorite restaurant of mine) when I noticed that a small river was rapidly coming in the front door. This caused quite a stir, as you can imagine. Needless to say, it wasn't long until the restaurant employees were busy building a makeshift dam in a vain attempt to keep any more water from coming inside.

My sister was especially upset about the new “River de Picardy’s” - not because she was worried about the restaurant (like I was - I love me some crab cakes) - but because my car was parked on the other side of the water and she was wearing cute, new shoes. She tried to get me to drive my car around to the restaurant’s side door to pick her up (and spare her shoes), but I refused. After all, whose idea was it to wear them in the rain in the first place?! Plus, it was really a moot point, anyway. The rain was coming down so fast that she and her cute, new shoes were getting wet, like it or not.

So, we made a run (mad dash?) for my car. We were out in the rain for less than twenty-three seconds, but were both completely soaked by the time we climbed inside and shut the doors. I remember thinking, “It’s not raining. We’re under a waterfall.” Even driving was becoming increasingly difficult. My wipers were on max speed and I still couldn’t see anything if I drove faster than 7 miles an hour. Craziness.

I dropped my sister off at her apartment, and proceed to drive back towards the freeway. However, I didn't make it very far. The intersection of Mockingbird and Hillcrest was under water. I might have been inclined to drive through it if I hadn't seen a Chevy Suburban floating in the middle of the intersection. I drive a small SUV, but if the water was too deep for a Suburban my Envoy didn't stand a chance.

The church parking lot at SMU was submerged, and the water was spilling over, like a fountain, onto Hillcrest. The force of the current was so great that some of the smaller cars were beginning to drift with the current. It was surreal.

So, I turned around and managed to wind my way to my mother's house in Highland Park (just south of Mockingbird). She was in her backyard with a broom frantically trying to sweep the leaves and dirt away from the drains - a battle that she was quickly losing. Actually, to be perfectly honest, she had already lost, but was not yet willing to admit defeat. I guess it is a little hard to accept it when your pool and backyard are one in the same. Even if the drain wasn’t clogged by debris, it would not have made much of a difference. There was simply no way to keep up with the amount of water falling from the sky.

That was when my aunt called and told me that Douglas Avenue was under water. My dad lives off of Douglas, and had just left for Galveston earlier that morning. Not that I could do anything if his house was flooding, but I wanted to get over there just the same to check things out. My mom offered to drive me in her jeep, as long as I agreed to take pictures along the way.

Neither one of us had a camera (at least not with), but my mother managed to find an old, unused, disposable camera in one of the drawers in her kitchen. Granted, it wasn’t ideal, but it was better than nothing. So, box camera in hand, we set out for my dad's.

My parents live less than half a mile apart, but it took us a good twenty minutes to get anywhere near my father’s house. This was partly because the water was so high and partly because we kept pausing to document the high water. It was unbelievable how DEEP it was - we had to document it so we could prove it to ourselves (and others) later on. I don't think I would have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself.

One of the most amazing sites that we encountered along the way was the Turtle Creek dam at Beverly Drive and the Dallas Country Club(DCC). The dam had been breached, and the water had spilled over on to the golf course. The water was so high, in fact, that it was in danger of spilling over Beverly (instead of going under it, like it is supposed to).

Because I am an idiot (and because my mother told me to do it), I got out of the car and waded through "River Beverly Drive" to take several pictures of the raging flood waters as they poured over the DCC dam just north of Lakeside and the Cox Mansion. The water was deep and the current was strong, but it never occurred to me that I might be in any real danger. Little did I know a woman was drowning in the same flood waters less than a quarter of a mile downstream.

My mother and I got within mere blocks of my dad’s house when it became clear that her jeep could go no further. The water was just too deep, and the streets were impassable. That was when I made the decision that I would walk the rest of the way (we’d made it that far, so it didn’t make sense to give up just shy of the final destination). So, I got out of the car and into water that was just above my knees. My mom told me that she’d try to find another way to my father’s so she could pick me up.

Getting from the street to the sidewalk (which was also submerged) was a little bit tricky. The water was deep and the current was surprisingly strong. This was partly because the street I was on has a definite slant to it and partly because the storm drains had created a series of whirlpools. For the first time that afternoon, it occurred to me that what I was doing might be considered dangerous (and/or stupid). But it was too late to turn around, and my only choice was to continue to my dad’s house like I had set out to do.

Luckily, I made it there without incident, which is where this story ends. My dad’s house did experience some flood damage, but it was all relatively minor (although, that said, I did get to drill holes in his ceiling to keep the plaster from caving in. That was pretty exciting. After all, it isn't every day that you get to drill holes in your father's house and not get into trouble).

North Texas desperately needed the rain – just not so much so fast. The area where I live got well over nine inches of rain on that Sunday alone. It was incredible.

Anyway, I’d like to share my pictures with you. Most of them didn’t come out, but the ones that did are pretty dramatic...

These two pictures were taken on Mockingbird Lane (just west of Hillcrest Avenue) in Highland Park:





These are of the dam at the Dallas Country Club (just east of Preston Road) on Beverly Drive in Highland Park. The golf course is completely submerged:







Please note, in the picture below, that the water is starting to spill over Beverly Drive:




The following picture was taken just blocks from my father's house. I was on foot at this point, and the water was thigh high in some places. The car in the picture was literately floating down the Douglas:



~ The End ~