Central Texas sits in one of the most flash-flood-prone regions in the country. Thin soil over limestone doesn't absorb much, the terrain is steep, and a storm that stalls upstream can raise a river miles away from where the rain fell. Homeowners in New Braunfels, Spring Branch, Boerne, and along the Guadalupe know the pattern, but the speed still surprises people.
Before the season, the useful work is unglamorous: clear gutters and downspouts and extend them away from the foundation, check that grading still slopes away from the house after a few years of settling, clear culverts and low-water drainage on your property, and photograph the interior of your home while it's intact. That last one takes twenty minutes and is worth a great deal if you ever have to prove what a room looked like before.
Also verify your coverage now rather than later. Standard homeowners policies exclude rising water. Flood coverage is separate, and most policies carry a thirty-day waiting period, so buying it as a storm approaches doesn't help. If you're near a creek or in a mapped flood zone, that's a conversation worth having before June.
During an event, the rules are the ones people know and ignore: never drive into moving water across a low-water crossing, and move upward rather than outward if water is entering the structure. Property is replaceable and the current is stronger than it looks.
Afterward, treat flood water as contaminated, because it is. River and street flooding carries sewage, fuel, agricultural runoff, and whatever was in the ground it crossed. Carpet, pad, and saturated insulation come out. Drywall gets cut above the water line. Anything porous that was submerged is generally not salvageable, and the structure needs cleaning and antimicrobial treatment before it's dried and closed up.
We respond to flood and storm damage across the Hill Country twenty-four hours a day. If water has been in your home, call (210) 300-4038 and get equipment on site the same day.