San Antonio is considered to have relatively low rainfall by U.S. standards.

Specifically, the average annual rainfall is about 80cm (approximately 31 inches).

This is slightly less than or similar to the U.S. average rainfall (about 88cm or 34.5 inches), but due to regional characteristics, rain tends to come in short bursts.

In summer, localized heavy rains or thunderstorms often occur with humid heat, while winter and spring are generally dry. A comparison can be summarized as follows:

Seattle: receives about 94cm annually, with frequent light rain

Los Angeles: receives about 38cm annually, very dry

Houston: receives about 126cm annually, much more rain than San Antonio due to its coastal location, and is at risk of hurricanes.

San Antonio is a typical semi-arid region, where rain does not occur frequently, but when it does, it tends to come all at once.

So, on the early morning of June 12, a heavy rain that fell at night amounted to 6 to 7 inches. In fact, since the night of the 11th, San Antonio residents reported that flash flooding alerts kept ringing on their phones.

The heavy rain that day was at a level that was hard to see in San Antonio for almost over 10 years. It poured continuously for several hours, leading to urban flooding.

The areas most affected were around Loop 410 and the drainage area known as Perrin Beitel Creek. The water rose so suddenly that vehicles on the roads in nearby areas were swept away by the rushing water.

And... tragically, this heavy rain resulted in a total of 13 fatalities.

Most of the victims were people inside their cars who could not escape the rushing water. Among the identified victims were individuals in their 20s and 60s.

Rescue teams that rushed to the scene managed to rescue over 70 people, but in many cases, it was already too late.

Afterward, the city officially declared a disaster, and the newly elected mayor attended a candlelight vigil with the citizens.

He spoke of "identifying those responsible" and "ensuring this does not happen again," but the citizens' response seems to be one of cautious observation for now.

San Antonio has below-average rainfall nationally, but it can be seen as a region that occasionally experiences flooding due to heavy rains.