{"id":373224,"date":"2026-07-14T23:08:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T23:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/373224\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T23:08:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T23:08:07","slug":"central-texas-urged-to-prepare-as-heavy-rainfall-sits-in-forecast-over-next-two-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/373224\/","title":{"rendered":"Central Texas urged to prepare as heavy rainfall sits in forecast over next two days"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 With potentially 6 to 12 inches of rain in the forecast for parts of Central Texas and the Hill Country, local officials are urging residents to prepare now as the threat of flash flooding grows over the next two days.<\/p>\n

Martin Ritchey, homeland security director for the Capital Area Council of Governments, said people should treat the threat seriously. \u201cI think that we should always be at a higher state of readiness,\u201d Ritchey said.<\/p>\n

Ritchey said one of the first steps is paying attention to early alerts, including flash flood watches. \u201cFlash flood watches happen often. So sometimes people disregard that, thinking that that’s not important. But it’s the first step, it’s the first part of the warning process to say,\u201d Ritchey said, \u201cthe elements are coming together for the potential of life-threatening flooding.\u201d<\/p>\n

ALSO| Texas activates rescue resources as storms raise flood concerns in Austin area<\/a><\/p>\n

The National Weather Service\u2019s Austin-San Antonio office said 1 to 3 inches of rain could fall across the Austin area, Central Texas and the Hill Country, with up to 6 inches in some isolated pockets over the next 48 hours.<\/p>\n

“That could lead to some localized flooding anywhere to the Hill Country and Austin metro region,\u201d said Jason Runyen, a warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Austin-San Antonio office.<\/p>\n

Officials said people in low-lying and flood-prone areas should be ready before severe weather arrives. \u201cYou should be aware of the fact that your safety could become at risk,\u201d Ritchey said. He also urged residents in trailers, \u201cBe prepared to remove your trailer and drive to high ground to go somewhere else.”<\/p>\n

Travis County Judge Andy Brown also shared preparedness advice online, encouraging residents to have emergency food, water, medication and documents ready in case of flooding. Brown also reminded residents not to drive on flooded roads.<\/p>\n

Runyen warned that flooded roadways can be especially dangerous at night. \u201cIf you do come across a flooded road at night and you’re not sure how deep the water may be, assume it’s too deep to get through,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For overnight safety, Runyen recommended signing up for alerts and ensuring phones can receive emergency notifications. \u201cOne, sign up for warncentraltexas.org,\u201d he said. \u201cThe second thing to make sure you have enabled on your phones is wireless emergency alerts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Texas Division of Emergency Management said state resources have been staged and are ready to support local officials as severe weather and flash flooding threaten parts of Texas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 With potentially 6 to 12 inches of rain in the forecast for parts of Central…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373225,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-373224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}