Who to call right now

911, 311, rescue, CenterPoint, insurance, poison control, and scam lines.

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Houston and official checks

Status, maps, and claim portals change by the hour. Open the org site. Do not trust a screenshot from last night.

City of Houston 311 Debris rules, water, and non-emergency city services. Not a substitute for 911. Outside the city, this is the wrong desk.
CenterPoint outage map Action Center outage desk for CenterPoint territory. The older outage-center and outage-map paths returned 404 on 2026-09-21. Ignore viral ETAs. Downed line: stay back, call 911 and CenterPoint.
Ready Harris Harris County OEM notices, alerts, and shelter posts. Recheck before you drive.
211 Texas Shelter, food, utility, and recovery referrals. Dial 211 if the sites lag.

911 vs non-emergency vs 311 after a Houston flood

911 is life, rescue, and gas. 311 is city services. Harris County has its own non-emergency path. Do not mix them.

Open the claim while the water is still on the walls. You need a claim number before the first contractor speech.

If you are in moving water or on a roof, call 911. Do not wait for a Coast Guard number you saw on TV.

Gas hiss is 911 and CenterPoint. A water geyser may be the city, a MUD, or your side of the meter. Do not guess with a wrench.

Use the Harris County Flood Warning System for your bayou. TV crawls lag the gauges by a lot.

Tell the landlord in writing today: water, photos, and that you need a dry, safe unit. Save the send time.

The crash is real. 988 and Disaster Distress at 1-800-985-5990 are for this week, not for 'later when things settle.'

Houston floodwater is not bathwater. Call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 if someone swallowed it, got it in their eyes, or mixed cleaners.

Report to CenterPoint and read their map. A dark block is not always on their list until someone calls.

FEMA will not demand gift cards or your banking PIN. Hang up. Start only from FEMA.gov or a number you already have.