The National Weather Service said this afternoon that a Flash Flood Watch will go into effect for much of Metro Houston (basically along and north/west of US-59/I-69) beginning Friday afternoon and continuing through Sunday morning. This includes the areas hardest hit by last week’s flooding.
As Eric pointed out this morning, there’s good reason for this. Most bayous in the city (Buffalo Bayou an exception) are back at their baseline levels. But, outside the city, streams, creeks, and bayous are running a few feet higher than normal still. And with a soggy ground any additional rain is unwelcome and can cause flooding concerns depending on how quickly it falls.
Basically, at this point all you need to do is continue to watch the forecast. There’s a bit less certainty with this event than there was last week. Also, it can’t be underscored enough that the rain totals implied by all models with this event aren’t anything like the last one. We want you to be prepared but not to panic here. We still don’t know exactly where the heaviest rain will fall, but we know there will be a few spots that see a pretty substantial amount of rain (not 15-20″ like last week, but 4-8″ in a few spots isn’t impossible).
So just stay tuned in through the weekend, especially if you have to travel around the area or live in an especially flood prone spot. We will have you covered.
