Flash flooding caused traffic delays along Route 228 and Old Route 8 south during rush hour on Monday. A flash flood watch for parts of Butler County is expected to continue until 8 p.m. Thursday, according to the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh.

All the severe weather might keep your phone buzzing incessantly, but that's no reason to ignore those daily emergency alerts.

The Butler area entered its most recent flash flood watch at 3:38 a.m. Monday, according to the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh. That flood watch hasn't ceased, and as of press time it wasn't expected to end until Thursday evening. For four solid days, Butler County suffered flash flood-worthy conditions.

The daily reminders and unending warnings are something the NWS tries not to do, according to meteorologist Mike Kennedy. Indeed, Kennedy mentioned the term “flood watch fatigue,” but said there's little other option when the rain just won't stop.

“With this pattern, well, the pattern just hasn't really changed,” Kennedy said. “And it's really good at making a lot of rain.”

Kennedy's office planned to end the flood watch at 8 p.m. Thursday because of a cold front expected to come through around that time from the northwest. The forecaster said hopefully the front will move the wet weather along, and bring some cooler, drier conditions along with it.

Southeastern Butler County entered flash flood warning status from about 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service of Pittsburgh. The weather service noted that flash flooding was “expected” due to an estimated 2 to 3 inches of rainfall on already saturated land.

Locations at risk included Freeport, Saxonburg, Sarver, Mars, Nixon and Valencia. Southeastern locations in Armstrong County, including Ford City, were also at risk.

Steve Bicehouse, the county's director of emergency services, said he agrees that warnings tend to grow less effective when hazardous conditions continue for long periods of time.

“The longer events go on, the more complacent people seem to get,” Bicehouse said. “It's important to maintain diligence, particularly in low-lying areas.”

A flash flood watch doesn't necessarily translate to rampant flooding. A watch means conditions are right for flash flooding to occur. A flash flood warning, on the other hand, means those floods are imminent or actually occurring. An alert advising of a flash flood watch can keep people away from dangerous areas ahead of time, the theory goes, while a warning alert is meant to draw people out of those dangerous areas when a flood arrives.

In 2018, 80 people died in a flood in the United States, according to preliminary data from the NWS. Two of those deaths were in Pennsylvania. And 2018 was the first year since 2014 during which fewer than 100 people died in U.S. floods.

Out of all natural disasters, flood deaths trailed only extreme heat in 2018.