Dallas resident woke up to terrifying scene amid deadly flooding
In the midst of what turned out to be record rainfall, one Dallas woman who had moved into her apartment just two days earlier documented on video the floodwaters overwhelming her living space.
Dramatic footage shows a woman in Dallas, Texas, waking up in the early hours of Aug. 22 with floodwaters filling her apartment and washing her car away.
Two days after moving into her new apartment in Dallas, Brittany Taylor woke up early Monday morning to the unthinkable -- her entire apartment was flooded. Taylor quickly grabbed her camera and started to document the nightmare she had awakened to.
"My apartment is literally flooding. I just woke up," an audibly distressed Taylor can be heard saying as she filmed the damage already done to her apartment. "Should I call 911? What do I do?"
After Taylor took a minute to process the terrifying scene, she began to salvage what possessions she had left by putting them on objects that were above the water line. As heavy rain continued to fall Monday morning, flooding ensued throughout Dallas leading to nearly 200 water rescues and at least one fatality, according to officials.
Brittany Taylor's flooded apartment in Dallas as record rainfall triggered catastrophic flooding on Monday, Aug. 22, 2022. (Brittany Taylor via Storyful)
"Oh, look you guys -- MacBooks can float," Taylor said as she rescued her laptop from the water.
Determined to make it outside to locate her car, Taylor waded through the water-filled hallways of her apartment building only to find more chaos outside.
Once outside, an orchestra of car alarms and sirens could be heard in the background of the video as Taylor continued to record. It is unclear how much time passed before Taylor finally located her vehicle.
"Everything is on," Taylor said once she found her car. "It just turned on by itself."
Brittany Taylor's flooded apartment in Dallas as record rainfall triggered catastrophic flooding on Monday, Aug. 22, 2022. (Brittany Taylor via Storyful)
Taylor got in the car and could tell it was experiencing a severe malfunction -- the trunk of the car was popped open, the windows were down and the lights, windshield wipers and air conditioner were all on.
As Taylor returned to her apartment, she found external cracks in her apartment building where the water flowed through.
Taylor's renter's insurance doesn't have flood coverage, she said, so her sister, Breanna Lee Irving, quickly made a GoFundMe page to help raise funds to replace the ruined items.
"Brit had just moved what little she had in on Saturday," Irving wrote on the GoFundMe page. "[Monday] night, the storms flooded her whole complex. 2+ feet of water, most of her stuff still in boxes on the first floor ... My heart breaks to see so much of it lost in one night."
As of Tuesday morning, the GoFundMe page had already raised more than $11,700 from at least 185 donors to help Taylor replace her ruined belongings.
Following the deadly and devastating flooding that impacted the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins declared a state of disaster on Monday, requesting state and federal assistance for affected individuals. Jenkins also confirmed that a 60-year-old woman was killed on Monday when her vehicle was swept away in the floodwaters.
In a press conference on Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a disaster declaration for 23 Texas counties, which included Dallas County, in response to the flooding. Abbott said more than 100 homes were damaged in the floods.
The deluge started Sunday night and continued well into Monday. As of 2 p.m. local time, the total 24-hour rainfall was 9.19 inches, which the National Weather Service (NWS) noted as the second-highest total ever and most since September 1932.
Dallas reported 3.01 inches of rain in one hour overnight Monday, provisionally the station's highest one-hour rainfall on record.
Unofficial weather stations across the metroplex reported more than a foot of rain in 24 hours, with 15.87 inches of rain in Parkdale and 15.86 inches at Londonderry Lane.
The raging waters flooded roadways and stranded numerous drivers. Video footage from storm chaser Brandon Clement showed I-30 blocked with deep floodwaters early Monday morning. According to Clement, multiple water rescues were underway along I-30.
Other Dallas residents spent time searching for their cars on Monday after the floodwaters moved them from their parked locations.
"Consider parking on a high spot in the neighborhood or parking lot during potential days with thunderstorms or when there is a risk of a flash flood, even if you have to walk a bit from the car to the apartment," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski. "It could save thousands of dollars in damage to your vehicle. Most of the time, when water enters the engine compartment of a vehicle, even if the car is turned off, the electrical system can be so badly damaged that the car is a total loss."
The floodwaters rushed into multiple buildings and apartments across the metroplex as well. One east Dallas resident shared photos on Twitter of nearly 2 feet of water that flooded the first floor of his apartment. Much like Taylor's apartment, numerous items were submerged in the murky water that filled the first floor of his apartment.
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