A sluggish line of storms continues to deliver repeated rounds of heavy rainfall across the already saturated ground of the Southeast this week, renewing flash flood risks.
In New Orleans, where late last month storms dropped a month’s worth of rain in a day, weary forecasters at the local office of the National Weather Service warned that the area’s “tolerance for another round of heavy rain is fairly low.”
Across the region on Wednesday, rainfall rates between one and three inches an hour are expected, with some areas in southern Louisiana and Mississippi potentially exceeding that.
The Weather Prediction Center placed a broad zone from southeastern Texas to southwestern Alabama under an elevated risk for flash flooding, and a slightly higher risk warning was in effect across southern Louisiana and Mississippi. The day’s highest warning was in place across southeast Louisiana, including New Orleans. The worst of the rainfall was expected through Wednesday morning.
“It should taper off later, although there will still be some showers and thunderstorms throughout the afternoon and into tonight,” Peter Mullinax, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center, said. “But the heaviest action is going on this morning.”
Flash flood warnings were issued in southeastern Louisiana, including Jefferson, New Orleans and St. Charles on Wednesday morning through to the early afternoon.
The repeated downpours are the result of a storm breaking out along a nearly stationary front, sitting just north of the Gulf Coast. Warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico is building up along this front, and a weather system approaching from the west is injecting additional energy into the atmosphere. As a result, the storms are dropping large amounts of rain in a short amount of time to the same areas.
The slow-moving storms have already been affecting the region since early in the week, delivering significant rainfall and flooding across parts of Texas and Louisiana. On Monday and Tuesday, areas in Louisiana received two to four inches of rain, with some locations in the west surpassing eight inches over the 48-hour period.
In Texas, some areas have already exceeded their average monthly rainfall for May in just the first week. In Amarillo, 2.46 inches of rain was recorded by Wednesday morning, far surpassing the city’s May average of 2.27 inches.
“It’s been quite wet for a good chunk of the start,” Mr. Mullinax said. “Some of this is welcomed, especially as we get closer to summer, but to have it be that kind of levels, of course it’s going to cause some flooding problems, and unfortunately that’s been the case the last couple of days, especially in northern and eastern Texas.”
In Brenham, Texas, between Austin and Houston, a search operation recovered the body of Devah Woods, 10, on Tuesday. She had last been seen on Monday as storms moved through the area.
“The response from everyone was overwhelming,” Atwood Kenjura, the mayor of Brenham, said during a news conference, expressing gratitude to rescue workers. The Brenham Fire Department reported that the search effort had included drones, swift water rescue teams and canine units.
Severe weather was an added threat in the Southeast through Thursday, especially across portions of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The Storm Prediction Center warned of hail and damaging winds as the primary threats, along with a low risk of tornadoes. Southeastern Texas, including cities such as Victoria and Missouri City, were under slightly higher risk of severe weather, especially Wednesday afternoon and evening.
The Southeast will continue to face severe weather and high rainfall in the coming days. The Weather Prediction Center warned of flash flood risks for parts of Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and, later this week, South Carolina. Southeast Louisiana into southwest Alabama, including New Orleans and Mobile, remain under a slightly higher risk.
“We’ve got rainfall in the forecast all the next seven days,” Mr. Mullinax said. “It’s just a tough stretch of unsettled weather in the Southeast for the next week.”
Nazaneen Ghaffar is a Times reporter on the Weather team.
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