by Before the central texas floods, in which more than 100 people were killed, the state was by far the leader of the US floods, some of which can be transferred to geography, which can be transmitted into fatal lack, a study that has been overwhelmed for decades.
From 1959 to 2019 1,069 people died in floods in Texas, which almost corresponds to a fifth of the a total of 5,724 flood cases in the lower 48 states, according to a study in 2021 in the magazine Water. That is about 370 more than the nearest state, Louisiana.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, after heat in 2024 and in the past 30 years the second cause of death of death in the country after heat in 2024 and in the past 30 years, an average of 145 deaths per year.
Other floods have become fatal this year: last month in San Antonio, 13 people died, including 11 people who drove into water and they could go through the study author Hatim Sharif, professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Texas in San Antonio, which examines why people die in floods.
For several years, Sharif has been calling for state and local officials to integrate better emergency campaigns to use and save flood forecasts by drawing people’s attention and completing people in need of protection on which streets and water meet.
“I think in Kerr County, if you had an integrated warning system that uses precipitation forecasts to predict real -time effects on the ground, she could have saved many lives and that emergency crews could have helped know which place would be flooded,” said Sharif. “You could have taken measures.”
The role of geography and the site
Texas has so many deaths due to its geography, population and size, experts say. The area in which the recent fatal floods are referred to as a fall flood yard due to hills and valleys.
“Steep, hilly terrain produces a rapid drainage and rapid bachers, since the water travels downhill at greater speeds and land downhill,” said Kate Abshire, head of Noaas fall flood services. “Rocky Terrain can tighten the development of flood floods and raging waters, since stones and tonrums do not allow so much water to infiltrate in the ground.”
“Urban areas are particularly susceptible to fall floods due to the large amounts of concrete and asphalt surfaces that do not easily let it penetrate into the ground,” she said.
Together with these hills “You have the Gulf of Mexico right there, the biggest body hot water in the entire North Atlantic,” said Jeff Masters, a former government of Meteorologist, who is co -founded with the weather in the underground of the weather and is now in Yale Climate Connections. “So you have a capable source of moisture for creating floods.”
Avoidable deaths
In the past, according to experts, many deaths were avoided all over the country and in Texas. Masters said nothing shows that it is better than statistics in Sharif’s study: 86% of the flood death since 1959 were people who drove or went into floods.
Almost 58% of deaths were people in cars and trucks. Especially in Texas, it is a problem because hills and low lies have more than 3,000 places where road currents and waterways cross without bridges or through letters, said Sharif.
“People in Texas, they like trucks and SUVs, especially trucks,” said Sharif. “They think that truck is hard and that is a factor. Sometimes they use their large car, SUV or truck and they say they can beat the flood on the street … especially at night. They underestimate the depth and speed of the water.”
Abshire said that people not only ignore the security mantra of the weather service, “turn around, do not drown”, but also showed studies that a number of these deaths occur when people actively drive around barricades and barriers that block flooded roads.
The recent floods in Texas Hill Country were less typical because there were so many deaths in a camp in which the water overtook the victims and not people who went into the water, said Sharif. According to the study, only 8% of deaths have occurred in constant houses, mobile homes or camps in the past 60 years.
The floods on July 4 occurred at night, a frequent time for the deaths of floods. More than half of the deaths since 1959 have been taken at night when it is dark and people cannot see how much flooding there are for warnings or not awake, the study by Sharif stated.
According to the study, around 62% of the US floods were male in terms of demography.
“The risk behavior is usually connected to men,” said Sharif, adding that most fatal victims of car accidents are male.
___
Associated Press’s climate and environmental protection receives financial support from several private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the standards of AP for working with philanthropias, a list of supporters and financed coverage areas at Ap.org.
