The 100 Year Rain and Hurricane Ike

We had the rain of the century here last week. Literally! The newscasters kept referring to our 8+ inches of rain as the 100 year rain. It's generally pretty dry in West Texas, but for some reason last Thursday conditions were just right for storms to keep forming over us and drenching the South Plains. There was no severe weather, just a long period of steady rain. That may not sound like a record setting event to my friends in Houston or some other places that get rain very often, but the drainage systems in Lubbock just aren't set up to handle that much. Never, since the weather has been monitored and recorded, has there been more than 6 inches of rain at once here in the Hub City. So, you can bet there was flooding! We've never seen schools close for anything other than a severe ice storm, but they did indeed close schools due to the flooding all over the area. I think that may have been over reaction to the rain, but when they had to make the decision there was no indication of when the rain would stop. But with rain, as opposed to Hurricane Ike as my mom and step-dad were dealing with just two days later, the water subsided and everything was back to normal. I wish I could say the same for my mom's situation. They are still without electricity and phone. Neither are expected to be restored for 2-3 weeks. They didn't sustain any damage to their property but neighbors of theirs had roofs blown off and trees uprooted. They do have generators to run some things like the TV, and at night a window unit for their bedroom, but that's about it. Click here for a very frank look at some of the damage caused by Hurricane Ike. All in all, it's been pretty eventful as far as weather is concerned in the past couple of days. Hopefully we can stay dry in the days ahead!