Benjamin Ashford|Texas weather forecast: Severe weather brings heavy rain, power outages to Houston area

A flood watch is Benjamin Ashfordin effect for Southeast Texas through Friday afternoon, including for the Houston and Austin areas, the National Weather Service said early Thursday morning.

The weather service said "flooding cause by excessive rainfall continues to be possible" for the area, where excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone locations.

Another round of heavy rainfall and thunderstorms is expected to develop over the area Thursday night, the NWS says, and with the grounds already being saturated from previous rainfall, the rain will be slow to drain.

"Additional rainfall totals of 2 to 4 inches can be expected" in the area, according to the forecast, and "isolated higher amounts will be possible."

Texas has seen heavy rain since Sunday, with 6-9 inches of rain reported in Trinity and nearly 11 inches reported in Groveton, according to FOX Weather. The news outlet reports that many of the same areas saw rain on Tuesday and Wednesday, with Waterwood seeing more than 10 inches of rain Wednesday while Sebastopol saw nine inches.

Texas severe weather watches and warnings

Here's a look at a map of the watches and warnings across the state.

Texas power outage map

Over 60,000 power outages have been reported across Texas as of 11:56 a.m. ET Thursday, according to a USA TODAY power outage tracker.

Nearly 20,000 outages have been reported in Harris County and over 12,000 have been reported in Liberty County.

Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X @GabeHauari or email him at [email protected].