By Darreonna Davis

Howard University News Service

Dallas is still recovering after torrential rains shattered homes, submerged cars and killed one person last week.

The city experienced its second-wettest day in history with 9.19 inches of rain from Aug. 21 to 22, the National Weather Service reported. The record-breaking rainfall came after a record-breaking summer of heat with Dallas seeing its sixth driest July to date, the National Integrated Drought Information System reported.

The city experienced 1-in-1,000-year rain, which had a 0.1% chance of happening. The rare rain event ironically was the fifth of its kind in the United States this year, following record-breaking rain in Death Valley, California, southern and central Illinois, St. Louis and Kentucky.

A National Weather Service representative in Fort Worth, Texas, said East Dallas had up to 15 inches of rain. Other areas, like North Texas where sophomore Justin Hudson’s family lives, saw no rain. One week after Hudson’s parents dropped him off at school, the TV and film major learned of a disaster near their area from a professor during class introductions.

This is what the interstate in Dallas looks like. #flooding #texas #dfw #TxWx pic.twitter.com/KMiOAJZyXM

— WxChasing- Brandon Clement (@bclemms) August 22, 2022

The Dallas Office of Emergency Management received 232 high-water incident calls and used boats for 19 of the 84 water-rescue calls, according to Travis Houston, assistant emergency management coordinator. The office also opened a multi-agency resource center consisting of about 11 organizations, including Red Cross, Salvation Army and Minuteman Disaster Response.

Houston also discussed how people can be better prepared in the future and improvements the department can make.

“We’re looking with floodplain managers at where does this occur,” he said. “Is it outside of where we expected it to occur, all of these things, so that when we’re doing the mitigation planning, we’re coming at it informed by the most recent flooding incident. And that’s ongoing.”

“We encourage people to make sure emergency alerts are on their phone, to stay weather prepared, to have multiple ways to receive alerts,” he continued. “We encourage people to have at least three days of supplies.”

In terms of what people need, Houston said it’s assistance with repairs.

Darreonna Davis is a reporter and regional bureau chief for HUNewsService.com.