Twitter user @Ghostpickles posted this photo of a tornado that hit areas near San Antonio, Texas, late Monday. By Bill Deger, Meteorologist
Mar 20, 2012; 5:00 PM ET
Severe storms and flash flooding will crawl eastward tonight, threatening communities from Louisiana to Missouri and eastern Kansas.
**Latest Storm Highlights: There have been incidents of flooded homes and roadways from eastern Texas to eastern Kansas and Louisiana. A tornado may have touched down near Zwolle, La., during the midday. Another possible tornado downed trees and caused power outages in Goldonna, La., early in the afternoon. One person was injured as a tree crashed down onto a home in Morrilton, Ark.**
Cities in the path of potentially damaging storms include Lake Charles and Baton Rouge, La. and Little Rock, Ark.
Torrential downpours unleashing 1-3 inches of rain, and locally more over the course of a few hours will threaten flash flooding, by far the biggest severe weather concern tonight.
Heavy rain from slow-moving thunderstorms led to numerous road closures and high water rescues all across central Texas on Monday night, including in San Antonio, Austin, Waco and Dallas. Flooding also occurred in eastern Oklahoma.
As strong winds in the upper atmosphere interact with the warm, moist air streaming north, some thunderstorms capable of producing a brief tornado will continue to be possible in central and eastern Louisiana, central and northeastern Louisiana and part of western Mississippi this evening.
Although the set up is not ideal for an outbreak of twisters, it takes just one tornado moving over a populated area to cause destruction.
Wind gusts in excess of 50 mph, large hail and frequent lightning strikes will also be a hallmark of the strongest thunderstorms.
While damaging thunderstorms are most likely from the upper Texas coast and western Louisiana to central Arkansas, the threat for heavy rain and a few isolated strong storms will extend farther north.
Portions of western Missouri, are expected to have at least a couple inches of rain this afternoon and evening from thunderstorms, in addition to what fell late on Monday.
Here too, heavy rain will turn gently flowing creeks and streams into torrents of rushing water, while also flooding low-lying, poor-drainage and urbanized areas.
Unfortunately, today won't be the last day featuring gusty storms and flooding.
Additional storms will produce several more inches of rain through late on Wednesday. It will not be until later Wednesday night and Thursday when the parent storm system will finally show signs of weakening and pulling off to the north and east.
By then, up to 8 inches could have filled some rain gauges, with flooding threatening to advance to some larger creeks and small rivers.
If a strong thunderstorm is imminent, take no chances and head to safe shelter.
Action should also be taken quickly in the event of flooding. Never drive through water on roadways and stay alert to the potential of rising floodwaters, especially during the nighttime hours when it can be difficult to detect.
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