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Water in Your Home or Business? What to Do Now, and How to Prepare for Next Time

Heavy rain and flood watches hit the Rio Grande Valley and South Texas this week, from Brownsville, Port Isabel and South Padre Island to Harlingen, Rio Grande City, Laredo and Corpus Christi. Here is a plain, practical checklist for the first day, the first week, and the next storm.

If water got into your home or business this weekend, even a little, the first priority is everyone's safety. After that, a handful of simple steps in the first day or two make the next few weeks much easier. This page covers those steps, and then what to do now so you are ready before the next one.

What is happening across South Texas

As of Sunday, October 4, 2026, the National Weather Service had a flood watch in effect for parts of the Rio Grande Valley, with the advisory extended through Monday, October 5. A slow-moving cold front pulling in tropical moisture was forecast to bring widespread rainfall of 2 to 4 inches from Thursday evening through Saturday morning, with locally higher amounts of 3 to 6 inches or more, and the greatest totals expected across Starr, Zapata and Jim Hogg counties. Here is how it looks area by area.

Cameron and Willacy counties. On Sunday the National Weather Service had minor flood advisories out for northwestern Cameron County and southeastern Willacy County, naming Harlingen, La Feria, Santa Rosa, Lyford, Rio Hondo, Palm Valley, Arroyo City, Sebastian, Primera, Combes and Port Mansfield. A separate advisory covered south central Cameron County, including Brownsville, the Port of Brownsville and Southmost. Reports showed 1 to 3 inches already down with 1 to 2 more possible, minor flooding in low-lying and poor-drainage areas, water over roadways and some low-water crossings becoming impassable. Los Fresnos and the rest of the county share the same flat, low terrain, so the same warnings apply to you.

The coast: South Padre Island, Port Isabel and Port Mansfield. A separate minor coastal flood statement ran from Saturday into early Sunday for the Cameron and Willacy County coastal zones, with isolated minor flooding near high tide, waves reaching toward the dunes, and elevated water in the Laguna Madre and South Bay and along State Highway 4 west of Boca Chica State Park. Along the island and the bay, rain and high water can overlap, and streets drain slowly when the bay is up.

Starr County. Rio Grande City, Garciasville, La Grulla, La Puerta, La Victoria and Santa Cruz were under a flash flood warning Thursday night, with 4 to 8 inches of rain already reported, and local news named Las Lomas among the hardest hit, with 5 to 6 inches in town and nearly 8 inches on ranchland to the northwest. The ground is saturated, so more rain runs off quickly, and Starr County communities were handing out sandbags.

Hidalgo County. Local coverage named southern Hidalgo County, including McAllen, Edinburg, Mission, Pharr and Weslaco. Mission handed out roughly 3,000 sandbags a day, and TxDOT's Pharr district urged drivers to turn around rather than drive through water.

Laredo, Zapata and Jim Hogg. The National Weather Service rated Zapata County at a moderate risk (level 3 of 4) for excessive rainfall, warning of road closures and flash flooding in low areas, arroyos and small streams. Laredo and Webb County were under the flood watch too, with 3 to 6 inches forecast and isolated spots of 8 to 10. Laredo raised its emergency operations center to a higher readiness level, added rescue crews and boats, handed out sand at the Park and Ride, and began monitoring the Rio Grande with officials in Nuevo Laredo.

The Corpus Christi area. A flood watch Thursday and Friday covered inland Nueces, San Patricio, Kleberg, Jim Wells, Live Oak, Bee, Goliad, Victoria, Duval, La Salle and McMullen counties, with 1 to 3 more inches on top of 2 to 4 inches that had already fallen. Thursday evening minor flood advisories named Alice, Robstown, Sinton, Mathis, Driscoll, Odem, Orange Grove, Calallen and others for minor flooding in low-lying and poor-drainage areas.

Most reports so far describe minor flooding. Minor still can mean water in a garage, a shop or a living room.

One clarification, because it keeps getting scrambled: this was not a hurricane landfall in Texas. The rain came from the front and tropical moisture, including moisture tied to what remained of Hurricane Polo after it dissipated over northwest Mexico. This is a developing situation, so check the National Weather Service Brownsville page for current advisories, or the Corpus Christi page for the Coastal Bend.

The first 24 hours: stay safe

  1. Wait for the all clear. Do not return to a flooded home or area until officials say it is safe, and avoid driving except for emergencies.
  2. Stay out of moving water. Just six inches of moving water can knock you down, and one foot can sweep a vehicle away. Turn around, do not drown.
  3. Treat everything wet as electrical. Never touch wet electrical equipment, and keep clear of downed power lines. If water has reached outlets, appliances or the panel, stay out and call your utility or a licensed electrician.
  4. Run generators outside only. Keep them outdoors and away from windows, doors and vents, because exhaust carries carbon monoxide.
  5. Assume floodwater is contaminated. It can carry debris, sewage and chemicals. Wear gloves, boots and a mask, keep children out of the cleanup, and watch for snakes and other wildlife that moved inside. People with asthma or weakened immune systems should stay out of moldy buildings.

Document before you clean

Once it is safe, and before you move, fix or throw anything away, record what happened. This is the step people most often skip in the rush to clean up, and the one they most wish they had done.

  1. Measure the flood line. Hold a tape measure against the waterline on the wall, door frame or furniture, with the end at the floor, and photograph it so the number is readable. This turns "it was bad" into "the water reached 14 inches here." Do it in every room that took water, and outside too if you can.
  2. Two photos of every area. Take one from far away that shows the whole room or area, then one close-up of the tape measure at the flood line. Add close-ups of damaged walls, floors, ceilings and furniture, and of the foundation if it is affected.
  3. Then video. A slow walk-through of each room while you narrate what you see fills in anything the photos miss.
  4. Record serial numbers. Note them from electronics and appliances before they leave the house.
  5. Keep small samples. A piece of damaged carpet, drywall or insulation can show what the damage looked like after the item is gone.
  6. Save every receipt. Emergency repairs, drying equipment, hotel stays and replacement purchases. Keep warranty and manufacturer information for anything you replace.
  7. Keep a simple log. Date, time, who you spoke with and what was said, for every call to your insurer, utility or contractor.
  8. Then remove the hazards. After it is documented, get rid of spoiled food and moldy clothing, cushions and pillows.

Dry out fast

Moisture is the clock. The CDC advises drying your home and everything in it as quickly as possible, within 24 to 48 hours if you can, and discarding anything saturated with floodwater that cannot be completely cleaned and dried in that time. Photograph those items before they go.

Start drying yourself, right away

You do not have to wait for anyone to start. Every hour water sits in walls, carpet and padding makes the job bigger.

Consider a water mitigation company

Household fans handle a small, shallow spill. When water reached the walls, soaked the carpet pad, or covers several rooms, a water mitigation (water damage restoration) company is worth a call. They arrive with extraction pumps, industrial air movers and dehumidifiers, and moisture meters that can find water hidden inside walls and under flooring, which a fan cannot reach.

Get ready now for the next one

The Valley will flood again, so the best time to prepare is a calm day. None of this is expensive, and most of it takes an afternoon.

  1. Build a "before" record. Walk through every room with your phone and record video, opening closets and cabinets and narrating what you see. Do the same outside, including the roof, fences, sheds and detached structures. Back it up to the cloud so it survives whatever happens to the house.
  2. Protect your papers. Keep important documents in a waterproof container and make password-protected digital copies. Keep your insurance policy numbers and claim phone numbers with them.
  3. Get valuables off the floor. Move them to higher levels, and raise or move what you can in garages and ground-floor rooms.
  4. Keep drains and gutters clear. Decluttering them is one of the cheapest ways to move water away from the building. Ask a plumber about check valves, and consider a sump pump with a battery backup if your property needs one.
  5. Know your risk. Look up your address on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center, and sign up for your community's warning system.
  6. Plan your exit. Agree on an evacuation plan with your household, including pets, and know your evacuation routes and shelter locations.
  7. Stock supplies for several days. Food, water, medications, cleaning supplies, flashlights and batteries.
  8. Know your shutoffs. Find your main electrical, water and gas shutoffs now, and show everyone in the house where they are.
  9. Watch the sandbag schedule. Mission, Laredo and communities across Starr County handed out sandbags or sand this week. Wherever you live, from Brownsville and Los Fresnos to Port Isabel, Rio Grande City, Laredo and Corpus Christi, check your city or county website or social media for locations and hours.

Where we come in

We are independent appraisers and umpires based on South Padre Island, serving the Rio Grande Valley and the rest of Texas. We are not public adjusters and not attorneys, and nothing on this page is legal advice. If you are working through a property claim and you and your insurer cannot agree on the amount of a loss, you can read how appraisal works, and our Rio Grande Valley page covers the region we work in. Our credentials page covers the background behind the work.

Sources

Last reviewed: October 4, 2026. This is a developing weather event and figures may have changed since publication. This page is general safety and preparedness information, not legal advice and not professional engineering, electrical or medical advice.

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We serve as appraisers and umpires under the policy's appraisal condition. We are not attorneys and this page is not legal advice.