Deadly storms, floods affect 83M Americans; could be 'once in a generation' event

Forecasters are warning of potentially deadly flash flooding and strong tornadoes as more rounds of thunderstorms are poised to strike parts of the Midwest and South.

The potent storm system will bring the threat of “significant, life-threatening flash flooding” to about 83 million Americans starting Wednesday, according to the Weather Prediction Center, a part of the National Weather Service.

Thunderstorms with multiple rounds of heavy rain are expected in parts of Texas, the lower Mississippi Valley and the Ohio Valley beginning at midweek and lasting through Saturday. Forecasters warn the storms could track over the same areas repeatedly and produce heavy rains and dangerous flash floods capable of sweeping cars away.

Parts of Arkansas, west Tennessee, western Kentucky and southern Indiana are at an especially high risk for flooding this week, the weather service said.

Rain totaling up to 15 inches is forecast over the next seven days in northeastern Arkansas, the southeast corner of Missouri, western Kentucky and southern parts of Illinois and Indiana, the weather service warned.

“We’re potentially looking at about two months of rain in just a handful of days,” said Thomas Jones, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Little Rock’s monthly average rainfall for March is just under 5 inches. The rainfall that eastern and northeastern Arkansas could see is something only expected once every 25 to 50 years.

The copious amount of rain in the forecast is rare, Jones said, and moisture from the Gulf is boosting the amount of precipitation the thunderstorms could release.

On Wednesday, a large swath of the nation from northeast Texas to Michigan will see the potential for high winds and tornadoes. The area at highest risk for severe weather includes 43 million people and many of the nation’s largest cities. including Chicago, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Memphis, Tennessee.

Dallas, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Nashville, Tennessee, will also be at risk for severe storms on Wednesday.

The heaviest rains are forecast to fall in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, where researchers constantly monitor earthquake activity in the nation’s most active area for earthquakes east of the Rocky Mountains. Centered in southeast Missouri, the seismic zone extends to several nearby states, including Arkansas and Tennessee. It’s famous for a series of powerful earthquakes in 1811 and 1812 that were felt in a large part of the Midwest and South. 

Scientists have learned lessons from Mississippi River flooding to be vigilant about where they locate monitoring equipment, said Mitch Withers, a research professor at the Center for Earthquake Research and Information at the University of Memphis. About 70 stations in the area should be protected from flooding, and “we’ll still be getting our data and monitoring for earthquakes,” he said.



Tornado damge in Michigan on Sunday (Photo MLive.com via AP)