The heavy rain that turned a river in Texas into a raging wall of water was fueled by unique atmospheric conditions, according to meteorologists and climate scientists.

Flash floods in Texas have killed nearly 90 people, many of them children. Heavy rains fell quickly in the predawn hours Friday in the Texas Hill Country, causing the Guadalupe River to rise 26 feet in just 45 minutes.

Flash flood alley is a curved-shaped region about 300 miles long and 50 miles wide in central/south-central Texas, extending from north of Dallas to southwest of San Antonio. Its location, weather patterns, and geology often combine to create devastating floods.