Massive storms have been drenching the Lone Star state. Over this past weekend, as much as a foot of rain fell on certain areas near Houston. In the month of May, parts of the state have received over 20"! By now, you have certainly seen the photos and footage of the enormous amounts of damage caused by the deluge.
We often lack a frame of reference to understand exactly how much water fell on Texas in these recent storms. To give you some idea, Texas reservoirs have gone from 73% to 82% full in the month of May. That means an additional 8,000,000 acre-feet of water was added.
One acre-foot is the standard measure of water. It equals enough water to cover an acre of ground one foot deep. Here is a chart which compares an acre-foot of water to a six-foot human being to scale:
Here is a comparison of one million acre-feet to some landmarks. Again, this is to scale:
The total amount of water that was added to the reservoirs was eight times that amount shown in the second chart!
That is enough to cover the state of Rhode Island in ten feet of water!
Here is the link to the original reference: Visualized: How the insane amount of rain in Texas could turn Rhode Island into a lake - The Washington Post
No comments:
Post a Comment