{"id":452343,"date":"2026-09-30T18:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T18:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/452343\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T18:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T18:30:08","slug":"heaviest-rain-biggest-flood-threat-expected-thursday-night-in-central-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/452343\/","title":{"rendered":"Heaviest rain, biggest flood threat expected Thursday night in Central Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 A Flood Watch is in effect for most of Central Texas through Friday night, with the greatest risk of flash flooding expected<\/a> Thursday night into early Friday.<\/p>\n

CBS Austin Meteorologist Avery Tomasco said there is high confidence that torrential rain will develop over the region, but it remains unclear where the heaviest totals will fall. <\/p>\n

ALSO | Austin crews clear debris, check low-water crossings ahead of storms<\/a><\/p>\n

A weakening upper-level storm system moving in from the west is strong enough to produce storms, but not strong enough to steer them, Tomasco said, which means the areas hit hardest may not be known until storms have already formed.<\/p>\n

“Even when storms are on radar, we may not have a full handle of how this is going to evolve,” Tomasco said. “So everyone needs to be plugged in, tuned in and paying attention to updates.”<\/p>\n

Wednesday is expected to stay mostly quiet, with highs in the mid to upper 90s.<\/p>\n

Storms are expected to move into the Hill Country overnight, with torrential downpours possible along and east of I-35 on Thursday morning and afternoon.<\/p>\n

The biggest concern is Thursday evening, when slow-moving or stalled storms could develop in the eastern Hill Country or along the I-35 corridor. Rainfall rates in the heaviest downpours could top 4 inches per hour, Tomasco said. <\/p>\n

\"829637244_1569080298354629_8714271452974196672_n2.jpg\"<\/p>\n

829637244_1569080298354629_8714271452974196672_n2.jpg<\/p>\n

All of Central Texas is under a Level 3 of 4 flash flood risk through early Friday.<\/p>\n

Rain totals of 1 to 3 inches are possible in eastern counties, 2 to 4 inches along I-35 and 3 to 5 inches in the Hill Country, with isolated totals of 8 inches or more possible along or west of I-35.<\/p>\n

The region’s long drought won’t necessarily prevent flooding. Tomasco said dry soil can initially repel water, sending runoff into creeks, streams and roads faster. <\/p>\n

“So flooding may not take long to materialize even with drought in mind,” Tomasco said.<\/p>\n

A cold front is expected to move through Friday morning, bringing lighter rain through the day. That could still affect the first day of ACL Weekend One at Zilker Park, where storms and wet ground could delay or cancel Friday’s events, Tomasco said. <\/p>\n

Saturday brings a 50% chance of passing showers, and Sunday is expected to be the nicest day, with highs in the 80s.<\/p>\n

Tomasco also urged people along the Highland Lakes to prepare their properties, since lake levels remain above average<\/a> after July’s floods. Lake Buchanan is 96% full and Lake Travis is 90% full, and flooding in the watershed could lead to floodgate operations a day or two later.<\/p>\n

You can find the latest forecast here<\/a>, and the interactive radar here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 A Flood Watch is in effect for most of Central Texas through Friday night, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-452343","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\/452343","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=452343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}