Links at bottom :)
Flash flooding is a particular risk for most of North America this time of year, and while not much can be done to stop water when there’s WAY too much of it WAY too fast, there are resources to stay aware of anticipated changes. Emergency management departments (typically at the municipal/county level) were/are the usual conveyors of this information- but in the modern era, there are far more tools for the average netizen.
In this post I’m primarily sharing the stream gage forecast tool- which was massively upgraded in recent years, and is much easier to use! The points on the map show stream gages and their associated flood stage at present, typically a live stream at the gage (not just within the banks 😆), precipitation estimates, snowpack analysis, current flood risk/warnings, and a layer which shows anticipated inundation (flood depth/extent) for a given water level.
Having this data gives people a huge leg up since, as recently as the past couple years, the flood inundation maps would need to be generated on demand and then only in emergencies or during emergency action planning (a regular event in which local orgs prepare and review risks and procedures for emergency response). There has also been lots of advancement in using statistics to generate predictions for streams too small to warrant a gage, but that still very much pose a risk for flooding.
My recommendation would be if a person is in a flood-prone area, to stay aware of anticipated conditions and to have a response plan (since things get hairy, fast, sometimes), even if it’s just knowing what to grab and where to go before leaving everything else behind (which really really sucks and happened to my family, but most importantly we lived!)
Also be cognizant of your storm drains in the spring- a typically dry area can become flooded very quick if the drains are plugged.
General safety information and links for a number of different environmental risks: https://www.weather.gov/safety/
Link to website for stream gages showing past data and predictions for future levels (~7days): https://water.noaa.gov/
National flood hazard viewer: https://msc.fema.gov/nfhl
So much mixed emotions around not being diagnosed with any mental health conditions in the 90s - sure I didn’t get treatment and developed coping mechanisms that have taken a decade to undo, but at least I only got bullied for being fat (until I learned the value of punching your way out certain situations)