The ingredients that led to the Hill Country disaster — steep terrain, swollen rivers and unsuspecting people in harm’s way — ...

A couple waits for a rescue crew after their car got stuck in deep floodwaters in Windsor, Calif., in November 2024. Experts say you should break your window and climb out as quickly as possible.

The flash flood is the deadliest from inland flooding in the U.S. since Colorado’s Big Thompson Canyon flood on July 31, 1976, killed 144 people, said Bob Henson, a meteorologist with Yale ...

People climb over debris on a bridge atop the Guadalupe River after a flash flood swept through the area Saturday, July 5, 2025, in Ingram, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Advertisement ...

Comfort offers a good lens to consider the terrible force of a flash flood’s wall of water because it’s downstream of where the river’s rain-engorged branches met.

Once a flash flood starts, experts say the main priority is quickly getting to higher ground, whether that's the top floor of a building, the roof of your house or the highest hill in the woods.

Flash floods can come on in minutes, and even small amounts of fast-moving water can be extremely dangerous, says Jennifer Horney, with the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware.