The multi-state flooding emergency entered a second day Thursday with a sharper edge: the National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings across a wide swath of south-central Texas as river flooding in Missouri and Illinois showed no meaningful retreat, holding the nationwide active alert count at 50 across eight states.
The Texas warnings represented the day’s most acute development. The National Weather Service in Corpus Christi issued flash flood warnings — in effect through 10:00 AM CDT Thursday — for northeastern Aransas, northeastern Refugio, southeastern Victoria, and Calhoun counties, where Doppler radar detected thunderstorms producing heavy rainfall as of 7:05 AM CDT. Additional flash flood alerts covered Kleberg, Nueces, San Patricio, Jim Wells, and Duval counties, extending the threatened zone well inland from the Gulf Coast. That cluster runs from Corpus Christi northeast toward the broader Houston metro corridor; residents throughout that region should treat any water on a roadway as impassable. The National Weather Service warns that most flood deaths occur in vehicles.
Missouri’s flooding, which anchored Wednesday’s alert map, persisted without meaningful relief. The Grand River near Pattonsburg continued above flood stage Thursday, with minor flooding forecast to last through Friday morning across Gentry and Daviess counties. When the river reaches 25.0 feet, low-lying farmland along its banks begins to inundate. Vernon and St. Clair counties remained under separate flood warnings as basin-wide river levels held elevated.
In Illinois, the Skillet Fork River at Wayne City crossed flood stage following recent heavy rainfall, triggering a National Weather Service flood warning for Wayne and White counties. Minor flooding is both occurring and forecast along that stretch, with no rapid improvement expected.
The full 50-alert footprint — stretching from Alaska and Washington in the northwest to Indiana, Kentucky, and Louisiana in the south and east — reflects a sustained weather pattern driven by persistent Gulf moisture feeding into soils already saturated across the central United States.
Flash flood warnings carry a higher threshold of urgency than standard river flood warnings. They signal water rising fast enough to cut off roads and limit escape routes within minutes, not hours. The National Weather Service advises residents throughout the affected states to monitor local alerts and avoid driving through any standing or flowing water on roadways, regardless of apparent depth.
Updated river gauge readings and active alerts are available at www.weather.gov.