Flooding rain, severe storms to inundate Texas into midweek

By Renee Duff, AccuWeather.com Meteorologist

April 18,2016; 9:52PM,EDT

 

 

Persistent waves of rain and storms will elevate the risk of major flooding in the southern Plains into the middle of the week.
The same system that unleashed feet of snow across Colorado has stalled over the central United States, allowing a continuous stream of moisture to pump into the region.
Rounds of heavy rain, thunderstorms and the greatest risk for flash flooding will focus on portions of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas through at least Wednesday.

While rain will extend along an approximate 1,000-mile swath into the Dakotas, the threat for flash flooding will lessen farther north.
Over a foot of rain will fall over part of the South Central states early this week, especially across southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana.
"One to three month's worth of rainfall [will fall] in a matter of days and hours," AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams said.

This rain will only worsen the flooding that has already taken place across parts of southeastern Texas.
Nearly 4 inches of rain fell in one hour at Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport early Monday morning. Some locations in the northwestern suburbs of Houston received 7-14 inches of rain in six hours on Sunday night, triggering numerous high water rescues and forcing road closures.
Rivers and small streams quickly rose out of their banks, flooding neighboring roads and lands.
Motorists are urged never to drive through a flooded roadway and instead find an alternate route to avoid a potentially life-threatening situation.
The flooding forced Waller County, Texas, to activate emergency shelters for people displaced by high water.
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Any additional rainfall in the coming days will struggle to soak into the saturated ground and will lead to additional flooding problems.
Adding another threat to the region will be a few strong to severe thunderstorms embedded in the flooding downpours.
Localized damaging wind and hail are possible across portions of central, southern and eastern Texas through the middle days of the week.
As this system slowly shifts eastward into the lower Mississippi Valley, rain and storms will become more widely scattered and less intense across Texas during Thursday night.
Drier weather is projected to move in by the end the week.