Of the 5.2 million people in Harris County, only about 44,000 are signed up for the Harris County Flood District’s flood warning system alerts. The text messaging system doesn’t provide a forecast; those tools are available at readyharris.

Flood alerts have also sparked backlash over the inconsistent use of the alert system by local and state agencies, such as the practice of over-alerting or issuing alerts for what some argue are non-significant, non-life-threatening events, which can result in so-called "alert fatigue."

A flood advisory was in effect until 9:45 p.m. Friday as a tropical disturbance drops heavy rains in parts of Harris County, the National Weather Service said.