A Look Back: The Flood of 1998

In October of 1998, Victoria experienced a flood that no one expected, myself included. I was in the mindset of 'the water has never been this high, we will be ok.' I was wrong!  I grew up on Water St. across from Urban's Grocery Store.  Before I knew it, we were carrying our stove across Water St. in waist-high water into the Urbans' parking lot that was overrun by media, CNN, KENS TV, and KPRC, just to name a few.  Many people in Victoria went through pretty much the same scenario.

Below is a look back at some of the photos from the devastating flood of 1998 in Victoria and Cuero.

Where did all this water come from? Back in October 1998, 30-plus inches of rain fell upriver in San Marcos and New Braunfels, which caused the Guadalupe River to crest at historic highs.  The Guadalupe crested in Victoria at 33.85 feet at 2 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, October 20, flood stage was 21 feet. While those numbers were high, Cuero had it much worse. The Guadalupe River in Cuero crested at 49.8 feet in Cuero at 1 a.m. Tuesday morning, October 20, the flood stage was 20 feet.  There is one news image from the Cuero Flood that sticks with me until this day. The aerial footage of cows on rooftops. The flood of 98 was responsible for 25 deaths and caused more than $500 million in damage, from the Hill Country to the counties south and east of San Antonio. See photos below