Hurricane Laura caused Neches River to flow backward for 12 hours

When Hurricane Laura hit the Texas-Louisiana border last week, the water and wind caused something strange to occur— the Neches River started flowing backwards.

Because the hurricane pushed so much water ahead as it was coming ashore, it reversed the flow of the Neches River away from Sabine Lake for about 12 hours, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

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The USGS said once Laura came ashore, the flow rate of water rapidly increased to about 15,000 cubic feet per second, a rate that would fill an Olympic-size swimming pool in about six seconds—typically its flow rate is about 2-3,000 cubic feet per second.

The same phenomenon happened in 2008 when Hurricane Ike hit Texas, though then the water flow was more dramatic flowing at about 30,000 cubic feet per second, the USGS said.

Taylor Pettaway is a breaking news and general assignment reporter for MySA.com | taylor.pettaway@express-news.net | @TaylorPettaway