Texas Residents Urged to Take Shelter in Special Warning

Severe thunderstorms will hit eastern Texas on Thursday, prompting National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologists to issue a weather alert warning residents to take shelter.

Texas has recently been struck by a wave of severe weather, including a deluge of rain that prompted a surge of flood warnings. In Houston, the city received up to 6 inches of rain in the first week of May, more than an inch above the area’s average rainfall for the month. More rain is expected to fall on Thursday.

The rain will be accompanied by severe thunderstorms that could become dangerous, and people in the affected areas should take shelter until the storm passes. Meteorologists warned of an approaching strong thunderstorm shortly after 6 a.m. local time. The storm was expected to arrive in Young, Jack, Clay and Archer counties by 6:45 a.m. local time on Thursday.

“If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building,” a warning from the NWS office in Fort Worth said. “Frequent cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm. Lightning can strike 10 miles away from a thunderstorm. Seek a safe shelter inside a building or vehicle.”

Wind gusts were expected to reach up to 50 miles per hour, with hail the size of nickels or pennies.

NWS meteorologist Allison Prater told Newsweek that storms will continue to move through the region throughout the day and into the evening. After Thursday, Prater said, the storms will dry up and the weather will grow increasingly warm. Rain will return Tuesday night and Wednesday morning next week.

The flood risk also is high for parts of eastern Texas.

“In addition to severe weather concerns, the flood risk for east Texas is looking substantial. Rare 4 out of 4 flood risk for east Texas today. Milam county is under a 3/4 flood risk, and has a flood watch in effect through 7 AM Friday to show for it,” KEYE-TV meteorologist Avery Tomasco in Austin posted on X (formerly Twitter) Thursday morning.

Flood watches and flood warnings inundated much of eastern Texas as well as most of central Louisiana and parts of Mississippi. Major flooding was reported in the Galveston region.

“Motorists should not attempt to drive around barricades or drive cars through flooded areas,” the NWS warning said. “Please report observed flooding to local emergency services or law enforcement and request they pass this information to the National Weather Service when you can do so safely. Turn around, don’t drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles.”