Texas braces for catastrophic flash flooding as storms dump more rain

Heavy rain kept falling across Texas on Tuesday as forecasters warned that parts of the state faced a “considerable to locally catastrophic flash flooding” threat. The most dangerous conditions were centered in the Hill Country and nearby areas, where pockets of another 10 to 20 inches of rain were possible, and some places could see rain rates of 3 to 4 inches per hour.

The National Weather Service office in Austin/San Antonio said the threat of torrential rainfall, significant flash flooding and downstream river rises would continue through the night. In southeast Texas, the Houston/Galveston office placed the region under a Slight Risk of excessive rainfall for Tuesday and Wednesday, with street flooding possible in low-lying and poorly drained areas, especially where drainage systems could not handle repeated bursts of heavy rain.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration Tuesday for 59 counties and directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to keep the State Emergency Operations Center running at an escalated response level around the clock. The declaration came less than two weeks after Abbott had already declared disaster in 101 Texas counties on June 15, underscoring how much of the state has been hit by severe weather in rapid succession.

The warning carried added weight because Texas has already lived through one of the deadliest flash floods in recent memory. On July 4, 2025, the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet in 45 minutes in the Hill Country flood that killed more than 130 people statewide, including 36 children in Kerr County. Officials later said 97 people were still listed as missing during the recovery effort.

Meteorologists and climate researchers have also pointed to a broader pattern: NOAA research has warned that extreme rainstorms in Texas are becoming more frequent, including in the Houston area. That backdrop has made Tuesday’s forecast harder to dismiss, especially with the strongest rainfall bands still capable of changing conditions quickly in the next 12 to 24 hours.

For residents in the Hill Country, around Austin and San Antonio, and across southeast Texas, the immediate risk is not just total rainfall but speed. Forecasters urged people to stay weather-aware, monitor alerts, and be ready to move to higher ground quickly if water begins to rise, because flash flooding can become life-threatening with little notice.