YOUNGSVILLE, La. (KLFY)- Experts with the National Weather Service in Lake Charles said the torrential rainfall in Youngsville is classified as once in a century storm.

News 10 spoke with Jonathan Brazzell, a service hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Lake Charles.

“The percentage is really what we’re calculating, it’s the storm that has a five percent chance of occurring in any given year,” said Brazzell.

Brazzell said Youngsville received one of the highest rainfall amounts in Acadiana with nearly nine inches. Due to the amount of rain that came down in a short period of time, he said the city’s drainage system was not able to keep up, causing flash flooding.

“The highest total a could find in that area is 8.59 inches, it looks like the majority of the rain fell between three and six am, so in a three-hour period that’s a lot of rain to get in a three-hour period,” said Brazzell.

In addition to the heavy rainfall, there were also some reports of wind damage with yesterday’s morning storms. He told me forecasters are still trying to determine if the damage was caused by a tornado.

“We actually had a recording just across the parish line of 75 miles an hour winds near Cade, we do know about the wind damage, we’re still unsure, our staff is looking at that, but there was definitely wind damage in Youngsville,” said Brazzell.

Brazzell said the storms reported for Youngsville are expected to be released in the next few days.

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