Flash flooding on the Medina River is a serious hazard in Bandera

The Medina River can look gentle in Bandera, then turn fast after hard Hill Country rain. USGS describes the valley as steep terrain where intense storms can push water into dangerous flash flooding.

USGS, BCRAGD, and TWDB built a flood-warning toolset for a 23-mile reach of the Medina River. It ties the Bandera gauge to stream monitoring, a river model, and flood-inundation maps. The July 2002 flood reached about 38.91 feet at that gauge.

For daily checking, use the USGS Medina River at Bandera gauge and the NOAA/NWS gauge page. For a house or lot near the river or a creek bottom, keep FEMA's flood map in the same folder as the live-gauge check.