The US has experienced a spate of flash flood emergencies during the past two weeks, illustrating July’s dangerous side. The month has featured multiple 1,000-year rainfall events across the US, and July is not over yet.
Flash flood emergencies are the highest-level flood warning, and more than a dozen of them have been issued across the country so far this month. This puts July 2026 within striking distance of a monthly record for such warnings.
A 1,000-year flood hit Texas Hill Country between July 15 and 17. Some areas received almost a year’s worth of precipitation in just a few days, sending deadly waves of water shooting down rivers and streams. There’s a 0.1% chance of a flood like this happening in any given year. But this was the second year in a row that one hit this part of central Texas.
This was just one of the rash of flash flood emergencies recently issued across the country. There have been 15 flash flood emergencies over the past two weeks. West Virginia experienced record flooding during one on Tuesday night; Utah on Sunday in a wildfire burn scar; Missouri’s 1,000-year rainfall event came the week before Texas, as campers were rescued from cabin rooftops and trees.
Flash flood emergencies are usually rare situations, when extremely heavy rain is leading to a significant threat to human life and catastrophic damage is already occurring or expected to occur imminently, according to the National Weather Service. But extreme rainfall is becoming more common as the world warms.
