HOUSTON, Texas — Tropical Depression Imelda is over Southeast Texas, and Houston, you know what that means -- heads up.
Forecasts are calling for 8-12 inches of rain through Friday, and a few isolated areas could see even more.
And this is why: We’re already getting rain, and the ground is already wet. But the rain chance kicks up Wednesday and Thursday, which means things can get messy.
Maps of high-water areas in Houston
Luckily, this is something you can prepare for, and there are a few maps that can help.
When driving in Houston, the city has identified 100 spots to steer clear of – areas that flood first. It’s mainly underpasses and low spots near bridges, but there’s a lot of them.
- These are places where TxDOT and Public Works pre-stage their barricades ahead of any flooding. This map lists them.
The blue markers are flood prone freeways, the teal are side streets, and the yellow markers indicate flood spots that have flashing lights.
- Then the city broke it down even further to these 40 locations.
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In fact, these are so bad, the city is investing millions to add a better warning technology to them, including red light signals with backup power generators that will be added by next year.
For this forecast, some of the heavier hit spots will be south of I-10, especially heading towards the coast.
For example, you can see several of those low areas lie along Buffalo Bayou so maybe it’s a good idea to avoid that altogether.
Now, when the flooding starts, there’s three other maps to have handy:
- TxDOT updates flooded areas in real time on THIS map
- And this one you may already have -- Waze will also show flooded spots in real time on their live map
- But the best source may be Transtar -- they have cameras and gauges throughout the city so you can follow their map for the most accurate spots to avoid
Other counties have their own maps or notification systems.
Here's what you should follow:
- Galveston County or visit their Facebook
- Montgomery County
- Fort Bend County
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