Even when floods can be anticipated, communicating their severity to the public is a tall order. Because flash floods are very localized, even neighborhood-level warnings may seem like false alarms to some residents, leading to what the journalist Zoë Schlanger has dubbed “ alert fatigue .”

There has been a record-high number of flash flood warnings issued in the U.S. this year, which can be linked to climate change and improved weather systems. The catastrophic and deadly flash flooding in central Texas earlier this month has brought attention to the increasing intensity of these weather events and how Americans can prepare for them.