Timelapse shows Texas flash floods turn dry river into deadly rapids in 20 minutes

The Independent

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A fixed camera overlooking a barren stretch of riverbed in the Texas Hill Country opens the timelapse. The cracked ground is motionless except for a few birds, underscoring how completely dry the channel has been during weeks of drought. Distant thunder rumbles off-screen, but no rain is visible at first. Within minutes a thin ribbon of muddy water snakes into view, quickly spreading across the dusty channel as runoff from upstream storms funnels into the low-lying valley.

The change accelerates with startling speed. What begins as a trickle swells into a chest-deep torrent in less than ten minutes, churning with red-brown sediment stripped from the surrounding hills. By the twelve-minute mark entire boulders disappear beneath the flow, and whitecaps begin forming where the current slams into exposed rocks. Logs, brush and fence posts are swept downstream, illustrating how even large debris is powerless against the sudden surge.

At roughly the seventeen-minute point, the riverbed is unrecognizable. Rapids roar from bank to bank, and the water level has risen several feet, obliterating any trace of the earlier dryness. Trees along the banks bow under the force of the current, and fresh erosion scars appear as whole sections of soil shear away. Emergency-services radio chatter captured on the video notes multiple high-water rescues occurring nearby, highlighting the real-time danger unfolding beyond the frame.

The final moments of the twenty-minute sequence show a fully formed river in flood stage, its surface boiling with turbulence. The timelapse ends with a stark reminder from local authorities: flash floods are Texas’s deadliest weather threat, capable of turning a dry river into life-threatening rapids in the time it takes to brew a cup of coffee. Viewers are urged to heed flash-flood warnings, avoid low-water crossings, and remember the state’s well-known mantra—“Turn Around, Don’t Drown.”

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