With heavy rain fall in Dallas-Fort Worth often comes flooding. In fact, from North Texas along the Interstate 35 corridor through Austin and San Antonio in the Hill Country and curving toward Del Rio in southwestern Texas is known as “Flash Flood Alley.”
When stormy weather comes to area, many North Texans worry about flooding in their area.
The Dallas Morning News’ flood map draws on aggregated data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to illustrate the state of river gauges and hazard levels in North Texas in real time.
Residents can type their address on the map’s search bar and see live precipitation levels and river gauge heights near them, as well as any any flood alerts from the National Weather Service.
Gauges are used to help measure citywide flooding and are ranked using NOAA’s flooding categories: major, moderate and minor. Major flooding impacting roads and structures requires residents to evacuate. Moderate flooding is less severe but can still require city evacuations. Minor floods cause minimal property damage, but NOAA says they still present a threat.
National Weather Service alerts also are visible on the map and broken down into the following categories:
North Texans also see how much precipitation has fallen in their area and how this precipitation compares to previous years with The News’ rain tracker.
On average, the city has 37 inches of rain per year, but how much varies dramatically with climate trends. Typically, spring and fall are the area’s wettest seasons.