The phrase "about to overwhelm" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe a situation where something is on the verge of becoming too much to handle or is imminent in its impact.
Example: "The storm clouds gathered ominously, and I could feel the tension in the air, as if the emotions in the room were about to overwhelm us."
Alternatives: "on the brink of overwhelming" or "poised to overwhelm".
After 19 b6, Anand's attack on the queenside was about to overwhelm Black.
Anguish seems about to overwhelm him, but after a moment, he continues.
In the storm's wake, frustration over the speed of the response triggered withering public criticism from borough officials, leading to concerns that a political crisis was about to overwhelm the still unfolding relief effort.
Then comes the flip side: the all-out wild child has to walk onto a college campus or into a professional environment, and suddenly the feelings of inadequacy swell up like a wave that is about to overwhelm you.
Listening to these officials, it was as though they had been immersed so long in a parallel world where truth was routinely walled out that, even now, they could not grasp the facts about to overwhelm them.
"Texas doesn't have that many national Tier 1 universities, and we were about to overwhelm our major Tier 1 university with automatic admissions," said Representative Dan Branch, a Dallas Republican who leads the Higher Education Committee.
This is the latest offering from Andy and Larry Wachowski, bringers of "The Matrix," and, if it is about anything, it is about the quest to overwhelm a particular stratum of the masses.
They were concerned about the potential to overwhelm legal systems with new prosecutions for HIV nondisclosure if there is a change in valuing mutual responsibility among members of the gay community.
The worry about theoretical risks tends to overwhelm any discussion of possible benefits.
In Jenin, Israel also used bulldozers and wire-guided missiles fired from helicopters to overwhelm about 200 gunmen holed up inside the camp.
And the need to talk openly and honestly about my experiences began to overwhelm my fear of doing so.
