Heavy rain falls in Downtown Houston on May 1, 2026. (Photo Credit: Provided/ Alexa Bussmann)
Rain falls across Houston on May 1, 2026. (Photo Credit: Provided)
Houston experienced heavy rain on Friday, May 1, 2026. (Photo Credit: Kyle McClenagan/HPM)
Rain water begins to collect at Elizabeth Baldwin Park in Hosuton on Friday, May 1, 2026. (Photo Credit: Andrew Schneider/HPM)
Rain falls on Westheimer Road in Houston on May 1, 2026. (Photo Credit: Michael Adkison/HPM)
The rain that’s soaking the Houston area is expected to continue falling across the region Friday as the National Weather Service warns of potential flooding in some low-lying areas.
The region is under a flood watch until 4 a.m. Saturday. Jimmy Fowler, a meteorologist at the weather service’s Houston-Galveston office, said Friday morning that 2-4 inches of rainfall is expected, with up to 4-6 inches in isolated locations.
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“We have pretty widespread rainfall occurring along and north of I-10 this morning,” Fowler said. “We’re going to see continued kind of widespread showers and thunderstorm activity through this evening until late tonight.”
Rain should leave the area by Saturday, when the weather service forecasts partly sunny skies and high temperatures approaching the mid-70s.
Despite continual rain Friday, the region was experiencing minimal impacts as of the early afternoon.
CenterPoint Energy, which supplies electricity to much of the region, was reporting more than 6,000 customers without power as of 2:30 p.m. Houston TranStar was reporting no high water locations on roadways as of approximately 1:30 p.m.
Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport, after being under a ground stop at one point Friday, was experiencing average ground delays of nearly 2 hours as of about 2:30 p.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Delays were minimal at Hobby Airport in the south part of the city, where there also was a ground stop earlier in the day.
Dominic Anthony Walsh/Houston Public Media
Rainwater collects near a fence in Houston on May 1, 2026.
Rainfall throughout the month of April has brought nearly all of Harris County out of “moderate drought” conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
On March 31, the U.S. Drought Monitor map had all of Harris County under moderate drought conditions. However, as of Thursday, the map showed that 7.9% of the county was still classified under that category.
Statewide, 75% of Texas was still considered to be in a moderate drought. That’s down several percentage points from 89% in late March.
In April, Houston received more than 5 inches of rain, which Cameron Batiste of the National Weather Service said was about an inch-and-a-half above normal for the month.
Houston Public Media’s Matthew Harab contributed to this report.