The first tropical cyclone of the 2001 Atlantic Hurricane Season, Tropical Storm Allison, formed 120 miles off the coast of Galveston, Texas during the late morning of June 5 and moved quickly onshore that evening. The remnant low then wandered across east central and southeast Texas under a ridge aloft through early on June 10. The resulting torrential rainfall produced one of the worst flooding events recorded in southeast Texas when as much as 37 inches of rain fell during the ensuing 5 days, much of which fell during a 12 hour period from late on June 8 through early onJune 9. Rainfall rates throughout areas of southwest Harris County and Fort Bend County were as high as 4 inches per hour early on June 7 and in central and east Harris County approached 6 inches per hour late June 8 through early June 9. Houston was effectively crippled when the City's infrastructure was swamped due to high water in and around the downtown core including the complete closure of all major freeways in and around the city due to inundation, the loss of most phone service and numerous power failures. While some of the numerical models handled the meandering path and precipitation shield of the tropical cyclone and eventual remnant low fairly well, rainfall totals were grossly underestimated. The reporting and forecasting of severe flooding in and around the City was severely hampered by high water at several broadcast stations, the inability of news crews to move around the city safely and the loss of vendor satellite signal feeds due to rain fade as well as modem backup. The deluge in southeast Texas resulted in 22 deaths due to drowning and electrocution and estimates of as much as $5 billion in damage.