Widespread street flooding in Houston

Quick mid-morning update for you. Heavy rains on the order of 2-4″ per hour have led to widespread, and in some cases, serious street flooding in the city of Houston and areas southeast and just west. A flash flood warning is in effect for much of the city through Noon, and I suspect it will be extended through early afternoon.

Rainfall of 2-5″ over a good chunk of Houston, much of it in a short time, has led to widespread street flooding in the area. (Harris County Flood Control)

Rain isn’t in much of a hurry to exit the city of Houston. Expect heavy rain over the next 2-3 hours through Midday.

We continue to think the rains will exit this afternoon. But there will be some heartburn between now and then. Our best advice is to just stay put and off the roads for awhile in Houston.

See our morning post for more.

We’ll tackle questions in the comments as time permits.

19 thoughts on “Widespread street flooding in Houston”

  2. No disrespect intended, but this is clearly a busted forecast. Any thoughts on why? The NWS predicted “1-2 inches” today for the area and we are closing in on 6 downtown (with no end in sight). What went wrong?

    • We’ve been mentioning street flooding risk since Monday, depending on where the heaviest rainfall setup, and mentioned possibly 2-5″ in spots. I’m not trying to defend a clearly “beyond expectations” forecast, but folks need to realize everything regarding flooding around here depends on exactly where the heaviest rain sets up and how hard it falls. Houston’s an urban environment and will flood easily with heavy rain. We did as much as possible in the run up to the event. Unfortunately our weather modeling only helps so much in these situations and you either have to a.) cry wolf half the time and predict events like this that never materialize or b.) be cautious and upgrade the messaging as you get closer. We chose b, and frankly, would do it again next time. There are simply limits on what we are able to accurately predict more than a few hours in advance.

      • Thank you for the explanation. I’m not blaming you – you guys are great. The NWS got it wrong too… and in a major way.

        • No worries. Believe me…it frustrates us as much as anyone. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat in front of an event and said to myself, “Yeah, we could get 6-7″ of rain and maybe the city shuts down for a few hours.” It happens maybe 20% of the time? But the threat here is so frequent. I think that’s what tough to communicate to people. Today’s rain is a bit much, but it’s honestly not at all uncommon for our region. It’s where it falls that matters, and that’s the toughest thing to determine ahead of an event. This is probably the 4th or 5th time this year someone’s going to end up with 6-10″ of rain in a few hours between Beaumont and Katy. Sometimes it will be in the city unfortunately, and all the problems get magnified.

      • True. But as I watch car after car trying to maneuver our flooded neighborhood streets (Montrose), I wonder if underplaying the potential was the best call. In Houston, saying there’s a chance of street flooding is a given. It’s practically our town motto. If I’m reading “We aren’t expect anything too significant today,” I’d think I could run my errand with the chance that I might need to take a detour on a street or two. I wouldn’t expect 6 inches of rain. Personally, I’d prefer to get the full range from worst case to best case, along with their likelihood. It doesn’t have to be a choice between A and B.

        • I appreciate your point of view, but when you’re sitting in this seat ahead of time, it’s a lot more complicated and nuanced. I wasn’t “underplaying” any potential. The data we had in front of us said street flooding was likely somewhere. We’ve discussed it since Monday and alluded to heavy rain last week. Odds for street flooding favored S & E of the city…reality was it shifted 10-20 miles further northwest than we had expected. All along we’ve told you that “things could change” for a reason. Forecasting weather and impacts in Houston is tougher than most people think.

          • I think this is the part that Houstonians just dont get: you can get 1 inch overall, with 6 inches in Meyerland and you will get major flooding. You can get 1 inch overall with 6 inches north of garden oaks and it’s a non-event.

            I’m no expert, but if the prediction is “1-2 inches of rain”, that does not mean that every area will get between 1 and 2. Some will get much more, and some will stay dry.

            Memorial day floods were this scenario: overall rain was bad, but for Meyerland it was a historic event.

          • This. It’s the reality of the weather here, and unfortunately our predictability has not evolved yet to be *that* pinpoint with precision to get down to neighborhood level, which in Houston matters *a lot.*

          • Adding to David’s comment below, it also depends what you are living in. A master-planned community like most of Clear Lake or Kingwood (true, flooded during Harvey, but from the river) where the drainage was thought out by the developer, or some place inside 610 where they quickly threw up a dozen or so town homes with no yard all within three feet of each other on each block. For several blocks.

            Water needs a place to go.

  3. Hi – What’s the closest thing to the HCFCD flood warning system for Galveston County?

    • HCFCD. I’m not being a jerk either ha. You can toggle some of the gauges for Galveston County on the HCFCD site, albeit only a few. Galveston County has nothing to my knowledge even remotely similar. Only other things I’ve found like HCFCD are in Austin and Beaumont.

  5. I always look for your input on the weather. Terms I understand. No non-sense. I appreciate it greatly. I’ve lived here all my life and when it rains it can definitely pour. However, if you state that there is a possibility of 5 inches, then I get concerned. Houston floods. When you look at a radar and it’s red and yellow all over you know it’s best to stay alert.

  6. After 3.4″ in 50 minutes earlier in the morning, I’m now up to 5″ since 8:30 AM.

    Just got back from lunch – streets in Ellington/Clear Lake area are fine.

  7. I was going to drive to San Antonio this afternoon. The flooding will probably be fine enough to get onto I-10 later today, but is the west-moving storm going to cause flood conditions along it in between here and San Antonio? Trying to figure out if I should just cancel family plans.

    • The drive to SA won’t be pleasant, but it should be manageable. Rain rates so far haven’t been too bad along I-10, except in the Sealy area, which you may want to check in on before you were to leave.

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