Heavy Rain and Flooding Expected This Week

A powerful winter storm will bring major flooding and blizzard conditions to the Southeast and East Coast in the coming week, The Hill has reported.

The National Weather Service (NWS) has cautioned that the storm will "produce widespread, significant impact" to large portions of the U.S. this week, just days after a winter storm blanketed the Northeast over the weekend, bringing the first accumulated snow of the season to many parts of the region, The Hill added.

The Southeast will experience severe thunderstorms starting Monday night into Tuesday as part of the larger storm system. The NWS said there is also a possibility of tornadoes in parts of the south heading into Tuesday. 

“There is an Enhanced Risk of Severe Thunderstorms across the central Gulf Coast tonight into early Tuesday morning. Severe thunderstorms capable of producing strong wind gusts and tornadoes are expected from southeast Texas across the central Gulf Coast this afternoon into early Tuesday morning,” the discussion post states.

Federal forecasters also warned that a blizzard is expected in the plains of northeast New Mexico, eastern Colorado, the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles, western Kansas, and southwest Nebraska starting on Tuesday. They said travel will “become extremely dangerous to impossible” in those areas.

“Widespread and potentially significant river and flash flooding are likely for the central Gulf Coast and Eastern U.S. through early Wednesday. Powerful onshore winds will lead to widespread coastal flooding along the eastern Gulf Coast and much of the East Coast,” forecasters said in their discussion post.

According to Accuweather, the weekend snow will likely melt as this new, warmer system moves in. The meteorologists also warned that strong winds may damage homes and businesses, with widespread power outages.

“Initially, the storm is likely to bring a burst of heavy snow and perhaps a period of ice or wintry mix across parts of the central Appalachians and New England for a time on Tuesday,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dan Pydynowski said.

“But, the most notable impact from the upcoming storm will be high winds and flooding rainfall,” he added, according to Accuweather.

Some of the region could see 1 to 3 inches of rain from Tuesday to Wednesday.

Moisture rushing in from the Atlantic Ocean will fuel the heavy rain threat in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Tuesday and Tuesday night. In most areas, the heaviest rain will fall overnight Tuesday into early Wednesday morning before tapering to showers from west to east on Wednesday.

• Winter Storms Dump Snow on Both US Coasts
• US Coasts Getting Hit With Winter Storms