'The worst is nowhere near over:' Forecasters warn of catastrophic flooding

AccuWeather

Flooding has begun in parts of the South and Midwest, but AccuWeather meteorologists say its life-threatening impacts are just beginning.

Transcript

00:00and for the very latest we are joined now by AccuWeather chief meteorologist John Porter. John

00:04so many flood reports behind me and this is not just you know water on the driveway or in the

00:08county park. People have lost their lives out of this and we're worse the worst of this is yet to

00:13come. That's correct Jeff and that's why we've been stressing as you just mentioned that the

00:19risk for historic life-threatening flash flooding ahead of other sources because we want people to

00:24stay safer and be better prepared. That's what we do here at AccuWeather. Look at the numbers

00:28already on the map here when you see rainfall in the red and yellow here that's four to eight

00:35inches of rain that's already fallen. Some individual totals near a foot, Guthrie, Kentucky,

00:40other parts of near Waverly, Tennessee 10.14 inches. It's the same corridor that more rounds

00:47of heavy rainfall the rain is going to come too fast too furious more rounds of it are on the way

00:52that's why the worst is nowhere near over in these areas. John it's kind of scary how you know this

00:58is the third and now tomorrow will become the fourth disturbance to ride through this path

01:03and it's a little scary that there's no real gap or break between rounds three and four in parts of

01:07northwest Arkansas. That's the problem and I'll use the spotlight tool here to hone in on our

01:12big concerns here southern Missouri and much of Arkansas especially Little Rock northward that's

01:18when you get up into the Ozarks up into southern Missouri this is steep terrain and with heavy

01:24rainfall rates of two inches or more focused in this area there's going to be an extreme to

01:29catastrophic risk to lives and property in these areas and some very serious flash flooding that

01:35can ensue if you live in northwestern or northern Arkansas or southern Missouri in areas of steep

01:42terrain especially around creeks streams and other low-lying areas you may want to consider not being

01:48there tonight and tomorrow morning because of the concerns about that serious flash flooding and

01:53then that heavy rain is going to traverse eastward into areas near the Mississippi and Ohio valleys

02:00that have already seen significant rainfall amounts which is going to add more danger to

02:05the flash flooding. And John the amount of rain that we're already seeing we've already seen

02:09verified reports of 10 plus inches in some isolated areas but we're concerned that there

02:13will be widespread spots picking up even more than that. That's why we've got the widespread

02:18dark green here 12 to 18 inches of rain and again the heaviest corridor across Arkansas,

02:24western Tennessee up into Kentucky and out towards southern Illinois and southern Indiana as well

02:30those are the areas that are going to be at the greatest risk for flooding. It's extremely unusual

02:35to have this kind of rainfall amount without dealing with a tropical storm or hurricane

02:39of course it's a very different situation but catastrophic impacts nonetheless. And this is a

02:44fairly populated area here the confluence of the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers not because

02:48of those rivers flooding this is just generic flooding in this area that's going to be coming

02:52in so heavily separate from the river water rise. John a lot of places like Cape Girardeau, Paducah

02:59even the Jonesboro area in in the area of great threat. Absolutely and again very rare that we

03:04use the word in catastrophic that's why we've got it highlighted on this map in that area from

03:09northeast to Jonesboro up toward portions of western Tennessee and southwest Kentucky. This

03:15is an area where the flash flooding risk will be great at first but then as the water runs off

03:20through all the creeks and streams and gets into the rivers that's when this could be a river

03:25flooding situation that could be major closing roadways and lasting for days. So again a very

03:31serious threat and I want to highlight once again look at that risk area that extreme risk goes all

03:35the way back toward near Fort Smith, Rogers, Bentonville, Jonesboro and the Little Rock area here

03:42as well especially in areas of steep terrain that's a special concern for flash flooding and

03:47then across parts of Tennessee and Kentucky where there's a little bit of steep terrain as well

03:52because the water is going to run rush off that terrain and that can lead to an acceleration in

03:57the risks for flash flooding. This is a great time to download the AccuWeather app turn on push

04:02notifications because that's a way to get those warnings delivered on average faster than any

04:08other source that can save your life in this type of situation where people may have minutes to

04:12respond to rapidly rising water. And just briefly John back-to-back years with catastrophic risk

04:17that's very rare we don't intend to issue these frequently. No we don't we that's a very rare

04:23designation we only do that in the most extreme situations this is one of those and again in this

04:28whole corridor look out for the risk for life-threatening flash flooding there will be road

04:34and bridge washouts and one final piece here there's lots of tragedies oftentimes that happen

04:39as a result of high water flash flooding and people driving into areas where water covers the road

04:45so just a reminder please if you encounter water on the roadways turn around and seek an alternate

04:50route because that can really save your life in this type of situation. AccuWeather chief

04:54meteorologist John Porter. John thank you for all those details and we have tornadoes to talk

04:58about as well.

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