Long term drought for Texas- :-(

[weldingisfun]

I will officially declare the drought over for my little piece of Texas.
Yesterday, in the early AM we received .4" followed by 4.8" falling between noon and 10:00 PM.
Got out to survey the damages this AM around 7:30. Found about 200 feet of road washed out and some serious damage to three culverts under the road. Approximately 300 feet of fencing damaged of which about 100' that will have to be replaced.
It is pouring rain as I type this with the weather radar showing the front, dropping the rain, running from Uvalde, to the SW, up to Hico, to the NE. Lots and lots of red in that front.
Guess I won't need to be looking for something to do for a while.

Update: The rain that was falling when I typed the posting above came to .8". That brings the total rainfall to 6 inches in the past 28 hours.

Thanks for your concern, Texasjohn. The critters did just fine. A little muddy but none the worse for wear.

My guess is about 20 yards of roadbase will take care of the road damage. Hey, that means some tractor seat time :thumbsup:. But, the lower fence line will have top be replaced. I had reinforced the fence posts with bracing a few years back following the last big rain. So Mom Nature did something new this time. Since she couldn't push the fence over, she lifted the posts completely up and out of the ground. Now that's a new one on me. But hey, that means more tractor seat time as I watch the PHD dig new post holes. :thumbsup:

I guess there is a silver lining in every storm cloud. But, this time I have three! Both of the stock tanks are full, I will get some tractor seat time and I can now finish my floating dock project. :laughing: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/201609-floating-dock-advice-wanted.html

 

[houstonscott]

Big line of TS's going through Houston now and barely a drop. Not enough to even run off the roof....

HS

 

[texasjohn]

My total for this rain is 2 inches... about doubles the total rain in past 6+ months. Sunny now, got to hunt to find a place to get mud on your shoes

Glad to hear critters are OK... umm... sounds like you need to install a break away water gap suspended in the path of the rushing water. Still should be seat time, but perhaps a more permanent solution.... depends, of course, on the terrain, this doesn't work everywhere.

 

[Transit]

I have asked the dumbest question for years. The Mississippi river floods near ever year, lots of damages and the loss of all that good water. So why not build a system of pipes to move the water east and west to areas that need the water?
This will lower the water to safer levels and limit if not stop flooding. We have money to spit on all over the world, but cant build a school in Brooklyn.

 

[blueriver]

Sounds like great needed rain in some key areas ... Thats GOOD!!!

Started in again here around 4:30 this afternoon and my gauge shows an 1" ...

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

We officially got 1.29" measured about 1/4 mile from the house. There was a measured wind gust of 50 mph.

Folks, this was the first significant (enough to get the top of a cow wet) rain since January. My garden is pathetic unless you like to grow silverleaf night shade weeds. Hand watering has barely kept a few 'maters stringing along.

PLANTS Profile for Solanum elaeagnifolium (silverleaf nightshade) | USDA PLANTS

We need another few days like this one about every 3-4 days to get things growing. Texas' spring has been on hold down here.

 

[jinman]

Sounds like great needed rain in some key areas ... Thats GOOD!!!

Started in again here around 4:30 this afternoon and my gauge shows an 1" ...

Yep a lucky strong cell passed over me late afternoon and I got another 3/4". Today, after talking about spreading fertilizer, I got out and spread 175 lb. The rain watered it in for me. My wife informed me that I'd better get both lawn mowers tuned up and ready to cut because it will take both of us to keep up with the grass growing.

 

[blueriver]

Yep a lucky strong cell passed over me late afternoon and I got another 3/4". Today, after talking about spreading fertilizer, I got out and spread 175 lb. The rain watered it in for me. My wife informed me that I'd better get both lawn mowers tuned up and ready to cut because it will take both of us to keep up with the grass growing.

We all love that deep plush thick grass ... especially when its hot and needs to be cut.

My wife made the comment that because I am always so busy if I was to get a weedeater she could handle she would weed eat ... guess what she got for mothers day !!!!!!

 

[looknlearn]

We all love that deep plush thick grass ... especially when its hot and needs to be cut.

My wife made the comment that because I am always so busy if I was to get a weedeater she could handle she would weed eat ... guess what she got for mothers day !!!!!!

Wonder how long that will last.

 

[bikerdib]

I've got a weekend place in Colorado county; 7.5 acres, heavily wooded, self built camphouse and I had a dozer working on a pond I'm making out of an old creekbed. I had used my tractor to pull out all the trees and they were doing the dirt work. They could have used a couple of more hours to finish slicking off things on the pond but I'd MUCH rather have the 2" or so of rain that came through. Hadn't had rain at the place since last September. The timing of the rain was almost perfect. I can use the FEL to finish smoothing the dam and such. I just wish I could have spread more grass seed on the bare soil before the rain set in.