Thunderstorms … Redux

Wednesday, 13 May 2015
Gulf Waters RV Park — Port Aransas, Texas
Temps: Hi 80F (27C) / Lo 74F (23C)

Yup; we got another storm.  Just like the weather guy on the local TV channel forecasted.

It started raining and thundering around 4:30a — loud enough to wake us up.  But the slide toppers weren’t flapping and there were no alerts, so we went right back to sleep.  Until 5:15a.  That’s when the weather radio came alive with its flashing red light.  At least we got a bit more sleep this time!

Mary’s little frog sculpture awash on their sunken patio; for a second I thought it was the real thing!

The alert was to warn us against potential floods.  We weren’t worried — the pond had been pumped out to reduce the water back to its normal level after yesterday’s storm.  Still, we got up.

An hour after we get up, this is what the radar shows!
That squiggly red box is a tornado / water spout warning for
Mustang Island, which is where we are.

Rain pounded on the roof.  Thunder boomed.  Lightning lit up the sky.  The wind blew — but nothing like the way it did yesterday.  This continued for another hour.  At one point, a tornado/water spout warning went up for Mustang Island — which is where Gulf Waters is located.  We kept an eye out — difficult though it was since it was still dark outside.  Luckily nothing came of the warning, and five minutes later it was cancelled.

Not quite … not until all these thunderstorms are over!

At 6:45a — yes, I checked my watch — the rain stopped; the thunder stopped; the lightning stopped.  All was quiet in the motorhome — in the neighborhood.  For about 30 minutes.  Then it started raining lightly, and we had a bit more thunder.  It was short-lived, however.  By 8:00a, the weather event was over, leaving GWRVR owners and renters more than a bit soggy for a second day in a row.

This time I got smart and wore my water shoes; a lot easier to walk in them than in flip flops.

Site 408 survived the storm without getting flooded — except for about ½-inch of water that spilled over from the neighboring site into the toad parking area.  That water was mostly drained, however, by the time we stepped out to check on our friends and see how the rest of GWRVR had fared after receiving 3 inches (76 mm) of rain from this storm event — on top of yesterday’s 6+ inches (152+ mm).

[Click any of the photos for a larger image.]

Site 408 … dry up front …

… and dry out back.

The pond has risen to the base of our two fan palms, but you can see in the photo on the
left that the water is still some distance from the edge of our pad (the white rope).

Our friends Mary and Tony have a site on our pond … just a few pads down from us.
This is what their sunken patio looked like yesterday evening after the
flood waters receded back into the pond — messy but dry. …

… this is what it looks like when we go to check on it after today’s storm.

Here are some more photos from this morning.  Bear in mind that at the time of this writing — 4:00p —much of the flood waters are already receded.  The exception — the two ponds on the beach side of the property are still over their banks and into many of the RV sites, with the sunken patios very much under water.

Our neighbor’s site — looking back (left) and the sunken patio.

This is the entrance to the resort from SH 361; you can barely see the
arrow directing rigs to go around to the check-in area.

The pond on the left is overflowing its banks and draining to our pond
through the sites on the right … these sites are on our pond — across from us.

Securing a friend’s kayak … sure hope this isn’t an omen of what’s to come!

Fish out of water?  Let’s hope it remains that way and the site doesn’t flood further.

You’re sinking Mui; you need to practice your “walking on water” gig a bit more methinks ;-)

The way I understand it, our pond is the outflow for the three others on the property.  We get pumped out to the overflow ditch along SH361, and the other ponds — bigger than ours, by the way — flow into ours to reduce their water level.  It’s a sloooow process.

The little-water-pump-that-could … everyone pray for it to keep pumping.

While the photos in this post are from sites where there’s been varying degrees of flooding, let me assure you that the resort is not under water in its entirety.  There are plenty of sites — some even on ponds — that are dry.  Nor is this the spring norm — as old timers here have commented.  I can believe that.  April was apparently the fourth wettest since records started to be kept in the meteorology world.  May seems to be following suit.  A result of El Niño?  I wouldn’t be surprised!

Shortly before noon — it sure was a wet day … and not just in our neck of the woods.

And here we go.  Even as I wrap up this post, it is raining again.  The radar isn’t showing anything heavy at the moment; but if the weather guys are to be believed that will change tonight.  Keeping fingers crossed …