Update: Heading home? Public safety officials remind Austinites to drive safely, and turn around at all high water crossings.
- A few streets are closed due to low water crossings. View street closures in an interactive map.
- You can also keep track of traffic hazards and crashes before you head out. View the Austin-Travis County Traffic Report Page.
Rain is expected to continue into tomorrow, keeping the area under a Flash Flood Watch at least until 7 a.m. tomorrow.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Steve Smart says the ongoing rain is a result of tropical moisture coming in from the Pacific and Gulf coasts of Mexico, plus a weak cold front coming into Central Texas. Those factors are combining to give us some decent rainfall totals.
“We’re expecting the heaviest activity to be between 3:00 p.m. this afternoon and 3:00 a.m. in the morning – rainfall amounts between two and four inches; some isolated amounts as high as six inches are possible as well.”
Once the rain tapers off over the weekend, Austin can expect highs in the 80s and lows in the 60s for the next few days.
Update (2:01 p.m.): A flash flood warning has been issued for parts of Travis County until 4:30 p.m. today. Here's more text from the National Weather Service:
At 1:48 pm CDT National Weather Service meteorologists have determined that rainfall estimates from doppler radar indicate slow moving thunderstorms with very heavy rainfall across central Travis County with rainfall rates in the 2 and a half to three inch per hour range. Low water crossings and other low-lying areas will flood in the next several hours throughout the warned area. Runoff from this excessive rainfall will cause flash flooding to occur. Some locations that will experience flooding include... Austin...Austin Bergstrom Int. Ap … Pflugerville...Tanglewood Forest...Windemere…Bee Cave...Manor...Mansfield Dam...Rollingwood and West Lake Hills.
Original story (10:45 a.m.): Central Texas is likely to get two to four inches of rain over the next 24 hours. Some areas could receive up to six inches.
“The greatest threat for flooding for the Austin area and Western Hill Country will probably be late this afternoon through early Saturday morning,” says meteorologist Jim Ellis with the National Weather Service.
That’s when a cold front in North Texas is expected to “come down a little further to the south and provide and area of convergence, which means heavier rain and more concentrated rain,” Ellis continues. “So the greatest threat for flooding for Austin and Travis County will be late this afternoon to early Saturday morning.”
The National Weather Service has a flash flood watch in effect through 7 a.m. Saturday morning.
