TYLER COUNTY – It had been quite some time since Tyler County had seen any kind of notable rainfall, but a visitor named Edouard changed all of that last week.
Tropical Storm Edouard carried up to 12 inches of rain in some areas of the region, and flash flooding, to the county, and throughout Wednesday, the National Weather Service had issued and extended flash flood warnings for most of the county.
The county had been under drought conditions for most of August, with a burn ban having been enacted the prior week.
Edouard made landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border on Tuesday night, after weakening into a depression. It unleashed heavy rains and strong winds throughout Deep East Texas, and knocked out power to thousands. There were also reports of trees being downed and roads flooded in the southern part of the county.
When Edouard made landfall, the National Hurricane Center reported sustained winds of 60 mph, and at the time, forecasters said the system would keep losing strength as it pushed inland, but would continue pounding the region with heavy rains and flooding into Wednesday.
The flooding had a pronounced effect on the City of Woodville, most of which was without power for several hours on Wednesday. All of the county’s five public schools were also closed for the day.
Ahead of the storm, Gov. Greg Abbott had activated emergency resources, and locally Judge Milton Powers issued a disaster declaration.
Emergency Management Coordinator Justin Dilbeck encouraged any residents with damage from the floods to report it to the Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM) through the I-stat assessment tool.
“If you have damage from Tropical Storm Edouard please use the self-reporting damage assessment tool to report damage of your home or business,” Dilbeck said. The tool can be accessed via the website http://damage.tdem.texas.gov, or through the QR code accompanying this report.
Dilbeck said that reporting damages through the tool can help the county assess the damage, and any household can complete the assessment with the tool, which has the availability to upload pictures of damages.
Dilbeck and the staff of the county’s Emergency Management Office are available to help in any way at the office, located at 201 Veterans Way in Woodville, or by phone at 409-331-0874.
