New tools to help you navigate flooding, hurricane season

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — We’ve shown you the Flood Warning System put together by the Harris County Flood Control District before, but now’s a good time to remind you how to use it. 

The default map shows 24-hour rainfall totals, but you can toggle the time frame to look at the past two days or just the past 15 minutes.

If you click “channel status,” you can see what kind of impact that rainfall had on bayous. They’re usually all marked green for “no flooding,” but can switch to “flooding possible” or “flooding likely.”

You can also click on an individual gauge to get more information. For example, on the morning of Aug. 27, the gauge at Taylor Lake and Port Road indicated it received 1.60 inches of rain in the previous 24 hours. One tab breaks down that rainfall by the hour, while another tab allows you to monitor stream elevation.

“The goal of our flood warning system is to get the data that we collect at our gauges that measure rainfall and water level into the hands of residents in this region,” says Jeff Lindner, meteorologist for HCFCD. “It’s really a great way to have the information at your fingertips and have what we call situational awareness.”

The warning system also lets you sign up for alerts in your area. First, you’ll need to register. You can use your Facebook, Google or Twitter accounts — or just sign up with your email and password.

Then you can find the gauges near home or work and sign up for alerts. Those can come via text, email or both.

“A lot of people move around in this area. You can drive in from Fort Bend County to downtown Houston or Kingwood down to Clear Lake,” Lindner says. “You can have heavy rain and flooding in one area and be completely dry and sunny in another area.”

The flood warning system is an easy-to-use tool for any flooding event, including hurricanes. To keep tabs on the Atlantic hurricane system, sign up for ReadyHarris alerts by texting “GULF2021” to 888777.