Overview
- Heavy, training thunderstorms produced life‑threatening flash floods and multiple water rescues on Monday, stranding vehicles on I‑35 in Waco and prompting dozens to more than 100 low‑water crossing closures in the Austin area.
- Forecasters have placed large parts of Central and Southeast Texas under flood watches and active flash‑flood warnings, with NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center designating a Level 3 of 4 flood threat for consecutive days.
- The storms are driven by tropical moisture riding over a stalled front and can produce extreme rainfall rates commonly of 2 to 4 inches per hour and locally higher totals that could reach 6 to 10 inches in vulnerable locations.
- Emergency actions already under way include multiple water‑rescue deployments, the Lower Colorado River Authority opening a floodgate at Tom Miller Dam, and widespread road closures that officials warn drivers must not bypass because doing so is illegal and deadly.
- The National Hurricane Center is tracking a nearby tropical disturbance with a low chance of development but says its moisture will continue to feed heavy rain as the main heavy‑rain corridor shifts toward the Houston and Galveston area through Wednesday.