Hurricane Harvey: Rain Records Shattered And There's More To Come

AUSTIN, TX — It's official: As of Tuesday, the rain that has fallen on Southeast Texas in the onslaught of Tropical Storm Harvey is the most ever recorded in the continental U.S. from a single rain event.

The superlatives that have been used to describe the sheer scale of rainfall that's fallen across the Texas Gulf Coast are somehow inadequate in the face of immutable statistics. "The rain from Harvey is in a class of its own," The Washington Post concluded.

Stated another way: The water that has recently fallen on Harris County alone is enough to power Niagara Falls for 15 days, according to Harris County Judge Ed Emmett.

And that's just in four days, NPR noted. All told, some 15 trillion gallons have fallen in the region.

On Tuesday, the National Weather Service lent its official imprimatur to the assessment. Cedar Bayou, Texas, located east of Houston, recorded 51.88 inches at 3:40 p.m. CDT on Tuesday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weighed in with its own statistics on Tuesday: As of 4 p.m., 19 locations in Houston and surrounding areas recorded more than 40 inches of rain since 8 p.m. CDT last Thursday.

In the way of comparison, the record previously set in Florida is 45.20 inches. In California, the record is a comparatively paltry 14.76 inches. Here's a map showing national records:

The previous record in Texas was 48 inches during Tropical Storm Amelia in 1978.

The Dallas Morning News lends more perspective, stating it in a way that football-crazed Texans would understand: Rain from Harvey could fill all NFL, Division 1 college football stadiums more than 100 times, the newspaper reported.

Elsewhere, impressive rainfall totals were recorded. The Colorado River above La Grange on Monday registered a crest of 54.18 feet, the third highest level ever recorded. The flood stage, incidentally, is at 26 feet.

Rain levels this past weekend also were exceptionally high in other cities beset by flooding, according to the National Weather Service:

• Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, 10.07 inches.
• Bastrop recorded 16.40 inches.
• Giddings, 15.76 inches.
• Muldoon, 26.63 inches.
• New Braunfels, 7.03 inches.
• Rosansky, 20.55 inches.
• Seguin, 11.95 inches.
• Smithville, 23.58 inches.
• West La Grange, 25.88 inches.

For the Austin region, the rains appear mercifully done. For the remainder of the week, temperatures will range from a high of 90 degrees forecast for Wednesday to 91 degrees by Friday. The best part of the forecast: Zero chance for rainfall for the remainder of the week.

But for Houston, the rain isn't relenting quite yet. More rain is expected by Wednesday night in an already-deluged city, with forecaster predicting another six to 12 inches to fall from the unforgiving, and seemingly endless, storm.

Also See: Harvey Could Be One Of The Most Expensive Storms In US History

>>> Uppermost Resident walks down flooded street in upscale River Oaks neighborhood Aug. 27, 2017, in Houston. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images