“The last two decades witnessed major flood events, changing the ranking of the top states compared to previous studies, with the exception of Texas, which had significantly higher flood-related fatalities than any other state,” the analysis states.

The 2021 study calculated flood fatalities investigated at the state, National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office (NWS WFO) region, and county levels. Texas reported the most, 1,069, during the 61-year period, followed by Louisiana (693) and California (340).

“Texas is the only state that reported flood fatalities consistently in every year from 1959 to 2019, except for the year 2011 in which the state witnessed a historic drought,” the report states. “All previous studies show Texas as the leading state in flood fatalities but the other leading states were ranked differently in the studies.”

Of the three main types of floods (flash floods, river floods and coastal floods), the majority of fatalities nationwide were caused by flash floods, the report notes.

Over the period analyzed, the New Orleans/Baton Rouge NWS WFO reported the greatest number of fatalities, 861, followed by Texas’ Flash Flood Alley. The Austin/San Antonio NWS WFO and Fort Worth/Dallas NWS WFO reported 381 and 263 fatalities, respectively.

The Flash Flood Alley region includes 27 counties and the cities of Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio. Counties are clustered on the edge of the Balcones Escarpment, which encounters warm and humid air from the south, from the Gulf of America, and cold air from the north, which “occurs right above the escarpment curve causing heavy rains and floods. At the same time, tropical storms from the Gulf are another contributor to heavy rains and floods in the Alley,” the report notes.

Of more the 23,218 counties evaluated, 64 reported the most flood fatalities, 2,572, accounting for 39% of nationwide flood fatalities, the report found. Orleans Parish of Louisiana, devastated by Hurricane Katrina, reported the most of 654.

Four other counties reporting more than 100 flood fatalities included South Dakota’s Pennington County (237), Louisiana’s St. Bernard Parish (154), Colorado’s Larimer County (143) and Texas’ Harris County (101). Three counties reported more than 50 flood deaths, all in Texas’s Flash Flood Alley: Bexar (75), Dallas (69), and Travis (60).

The report also notes that in general, “males are much more likely to be killed in floods than females,” representing 62% of total flood fatalities with known gender information. This is primarily because men are more likely to drive through flood waters, more likely to work as emergency response personnel “and more likely to exhibit other risk-taking behaviors,” the report adds.

“The large percentage of flood fatalities in the age group of under 29 and above 50 may indicate that the elderly are less able to escape from floodwater and young people are more likely to take risks,” it states, noting that children and the elderly are most vulnerable.

The analysis also cites another study that found that “flash floods contributed to the most flood fatalities, identifying 1,185 fatalities caused by 32 flash flood events from 1977 to 1981.” Among them, 42% of reported drowning deaths were vehicle related.

“Purposely driving or walking into floodwaters accounts for more than 86% of total flood fatalities,” the report adds, stating, “the vast majority of flood fatalities are preventable.”

According to NWS data, when analyzing a 10-year average between 2009 and 2018 and 30-year average between 1989–2018, floods caused the second-highest number of weather-related deaths in the US; heat waves ranked first.

THE DEMOCRATS’ BIG TEXAS FLOOD LIE

Every year, there’s an average of 10,000 thunderstorms, 5,000 floods, 1,300 tornadoes and two Atlantic hurricanes that occur in the U.S., in addition to widespread droughts and wildfires, NOAA explains. Weather, water and climate events cause an average of 650 deaths and $15 billion in damage every year and are responsible for roughly 90% of all presidentially declared disasters, NOAA says. Roughly one-third of the U.S. economy, about $3 trillion, “is sensitive to weather and climate,” it says.

Roughly one in six Texans, or more than five million people, live or work in known flood hazard areas, according to Texas’ first State Flood Plan released last year, The Center Square reported.