February storms put water over Sherman streets, federal records show

Thunderstorm rainfall flooded several Sherman streets on Feb. 14, 2026, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration storm records that credit the account to Sherman police. The agency's Cooke County file shows the hazard can outlast the weather: flooding on May 8, 2015 still affected roads, interstate highways, creeks and low-lying areas more than 12 hours after the heavy rain ended.

The February entry names North Harrison Avenue near a railroad bridge, the 1000 block of North Travis Street and West Taylor Street near North Heritage Parkway.

NOAA attached a qualification to that episode. Most storms stayed below severe thresholds, the agency said, though some produced wind damage and isolated flash flooding. The record confirms the flooded streets without calling every storm severe.

Closures turn up elsewhere in the same database. Flooding in a construction zone shut the northbound lanes of U.S. 75 in Sherman on Aug. 30, 2025, an episode NOAA tied to repeated thunderstorms along a slow-moving front.

Water does not have to stand deep to take a vehicle. The National Weather Service says a foot of rushing water can sweep away most cars, and two feet can carry off an SUV or a pickup.

During the May 7-8, 2015 episode, Cooke County emergency management reported numerous water rescues and strongly advised against travel through the affected area, NOAA recorded. A flash flood in central Cooke County on June 18, 2007 killed three people and caused an estimated $28 million in property damage, according to the agency's account, which also logged high-water rescues and Gainesville residents cutting holes in their roofs to get out.

Pecan Creek ran through much of that history, with major floods in 1981, 1989, 1990, 1993 and 2007. The Army Corps of Engineers found the old channel could carry only about a quarter of the peak runoff expected from a 100-year storm. A rebuild finished in July 2013 tripled that capacity, widening the channel bottom along roughly a mile and a half and taking in bridge reconstruction and utility relocation. The Corps reported the new channel handled May 2015 rainfall of more than 18 inches. Corps fact sheet

NOAA logged water across Sherman and Denison streets and stalled vehicles in June 1985, after storm rainfall of about 7 inches in Sherman and slightly more in Pottsboro.

The Fifth National Climate Assessment reports that days bringing at least two inches of rain grew more frequent from 1900 to 2021, with long-term trends up about 20% in eastern Texas and 46% in eastern Oklahoma. Those are regional trends, not a finding about any single Texoma flood.

Texas adopted its first statewide flood plan on Aug. 15, 2024 under a 2019 law, combining work from 15 river-basin regions on a five-year cycle, the Texas Water Development Board says. The next regional plans are due in January 2028.

Gainesville offers free, opt-in CodeRED alerts covering severe weather, flash floods, evacuations and road closures, sent by telephone call, text message, email and mobile app.