A rain gauge between Cottonport and Plaucheville measured 29 inches of rain during the downpours caused by Tropical Storm Arthur. State climatologist Jay Grymes is meeting with the National Weather Service in Avoyelles Parish to check and verify the rain gauges in the area. Grymes says if it’s made official, the total would be a new state record.
“I mean, we didn’t just break the state record, which was 22 inches in a day; that 29 inches shatters the record,” Grymes declared.
Grymes says he expects the measurement to be validated. There have been numerous gauges in the area reporting 20 or more inches of rain across the same time period. He says officials just need to make sure the rain was collected properly.
“No rain gauge holds 29 inches, which means he had to dump it and refill and dump it and refill multiple times,” Grymes noted.
Grymes says the massive rain was possible due to numerous thunderstorms forming over the same area. The rainfall will likely be deemed a thousand-year event, and Grymes says it’s similar to the 2016 thunderstorms that caused flooding in south Louisiana with the same designation.
“What these events in the last decade have shown us is that these are more frequent than once in a thousand years,” Grymes said.