I'm sorry if this offends anyone but anyone who lives or operates a business in the Texas hill country has seen this kind of thing happen so many times they should know by now what can happen. Going to bed and hoping for the best is patently irresponsible warnings or no warnings!
It's much the same wherever, only with different hazards.
Hurricane country, you keep an eye on things and either prepare to hunker down or batten the hatches and bug out.
Out here, if someone warns of a blizzard, you check the pantry (should already be stocked), plug the car in and make sure you have gas for the snowthrower. Don't plan on traveling (though I have, more than once, with winter gear to survive being outside for a while if it came to that).
I have lived in the hills in Virginia, and you don't screw around in the bottoms when a "toad drownder" rolls up the holler--you go to higher ground.
I always watched the sky before going into any of the tight canyons out west, and never felt comfortable in those, even if I could see a ready escape route.
And never, ever, drive into moving water if you value your life.