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Tuesday, Jul. 15, 2025

Fact check: Does El Paso experience floods every summer?

Brandy Ruiz, El Paso Matters
no

El Paso has not experienced a flood, defined by the National Weather Service as a longer-term overflow of rising water, since 2006, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association storm records.

El Paso does experience flash flooding, which is caused by intense rainfall over a short period and can sweep through urban areas and arroyos within minutes.

In El Paso, flash floods typically occur between late June and September. From 2006 to 2024, El Paso averaged six flash floods per year, peaking in 2021 with 11. On June 25, 2025, flash flooding occurred in parts of Northeast El Paso, according to NWS El Paso Senior Forecaster Thomas Bird.

The 2006 flood was triggered when 10 inches of rainfall occurred in El Paso on Aug. 1, according to NOAA data. Due to extensive flooding and resident displacement, the county was declared a federal disaster area, according to NOAA’s flood report.

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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.

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