Summary

On Friday September 17^th, 2010 at noon, Hurricane Karl made landfall over central Mexico near Veracruz nearly 600 miles south of Corpus Christi Texas. However, well to the north of Karl, a very moist tropical air mass resided and became the focus for a significant multi-day rainfall event. This rain event resulted in record flooding on Oso Creek in Corpus Christi, one flash flood fatality, and the flooding of numerous streets, homes, and vehicles along the immediate Texas coastline.

Showers and thunderstorms developed over the South Texas region Friday and Saturday, with rainfall amounts ranging between 1 and 4 inches. However on Sunday September 19^th, a low pressure trough developed along the mid Texas coast and interacted with an upper level disturbance which focused the heaviest rainfall over Corpus Christi, Sinton, and Rockport. The heaviest rains occurred between 900 AM and 300 PM Sunday in which up to 7 inches of rain was recorded. These heavy rains caused widespread street flooding and road closures in Aransas, San Patricio, Nueces, and Kleberg Counties. Many homes in Corpus Christi were flooded, especially in the neighborhoods near the intersection of Holly and Greenwood. On Monday September 20^th, the 4^th day of this event, another 1 to 2 inches of rainfall were recorded bringing storm totals up to nearly a foot.

Runoff from these heavy rains flowed into Oso Creek, which runs along the southwest edge of Corpus Christi. The only gaging site on Oso Creek, located on FM 763 about 2 miles west of town, recorded a rapid rise up to 28 feet on Sunday, before it stopped working. A post storm survey conducted by the National Weather Service and United States Geological Survey confirmed the creek crested at 30.62 feet around 805 AM Monday morning which beat the previous record of 29.37 feet set back on August 10^th, 1980 during Hurricane Allen.