Type | Cold-core low Winter storm Blizzard Flood |
---|---|
Formed | April 15, 2016[2] |
Dissipated | April 23, 2016[1] |
Lowest pressure | 1006 mb (29.71 inHg) |
Maximum snowfall or ice accretion | Snow – 51.3 in (130 cm) near Pinecliffe, Colorado[2] Rainfall – Near 20 in (51 cm) around the Houston, Texas areas[3] |
Fatalities | 8 confirmed[4] |
Damage | $2.7 billion |
Power outages | 147,000[2] |
Areas affected | Texas (especially the city of Houston), Western United States (Rocky Mountains) |
Part of the 2015–16 North American winter and United States floods of 2016 |
The April 2016 North American storm complex was a major storm system that resulted from an upper-level low in the United States stalling and producing record-breaking rain in and around Houston, Texas, resulting in severe flooding, as well as a major snowstorm in the Rocky Mountains.[5] There were more than 17 inches of rain in one day in parts of the city, and up to 4 inches of rain per hour that morning at George Bush Intercontinental Airport. It is described as the wettest April in the city on record.[6]
As the most widespread flood event there since Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, it caused a state of emergency to be declared in nine counties.[7]