Hurricane Patricia drenched the dry lands of Texas this past weekend, spurring

flooding and large amounts of rainfall across the state.

The city of Austin alone received over eight inches of rain, according to the
National Weather Service; a small amount for the strongest hurricane ever
recorded.
It was the strongest storm ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere, said
climate and weather expert Dr. Kris Wilson.
According to Dr. Wilson, it rained in Austin for over 31 hours.
Although Hurricane Patricia broke records, the damage was nothing compared to
the likes of past hurricanes, including the Central Texas Memorial Day floods,
which resulted in extensive damages and deaths.
When it got here, we didnt even have any severe storms, we had very little
lightning, said Dr. Wilson.

Many prepared for the worst this past week, including the employees of Whole
Earth Provisions on Lamar, who recently reopened after a five-month closure
following the Memorial Day floods.
Tyler Frazier, a manager of the Lamar location, described the preparation
process leading into the rainfall.
A lot of people were pretty concerned about the rain, Frazier said. We made
this special flood door for the front and sandbagged every other door. We were
definitely preparing for the worst.

Ultimately, the store came out unscathed.

Nothing happened and we opened at our regular time, Frazier said.

The regular Texas humidity made for more manageable showers, which also fell
at a calmer rate instead of torrential downpours . Closed roads on Saturday
reopened following the weekend.
With the massive size of Patricia, there was some speculation that Texas might
experience one of the wettest records in history.
Thats very difficult to tell this far in advance, said University of Texas Senior
Climate Lecturer Troy Kimmel. The current patterns, as suggested by the people
at the Climate Prediction Center, is itll be a wetter than normal winter.
This past weekends deluge alleviated some of the lack of water in Austin, but not
enough to make a major dent in Texas usual dry spell.
There really is no guarantee well see the drought go away across Texas, said
Kimmel. Were just hoping that the above average rainfall pattern can take the
edge off the drought and get us some important soil moisture that we need
around here.
While we only saw a mild storm in Austin, Hurricane Patricias path isnt over
quite yet.
I see another three to five inches of rain maybe again by Friday into Saturday,
said Kimmel. Itll all be runoff, and thatll contribute to the potential of flooding.