Days of rounds of showers and thunderstorms have soaked parts of Texas and Louisiana, and the FOX Forecast Center warns that the pattern responsible for the heavy rainfall and flooding is not done yet.
NEW ORLEANS – Days of rounds of showers and thunderstorms have soaked parts of Texas and Louisiana, and the FOX Forecast Center warns that the pattern responsible for the heavy rainfall and flooding is not done yet.
As the wet weather pushes eastward, areas across the South and mid-Atlantic face an increasing threat of thunderstorms, which will last through the weekend and into next week.
The worst of the weather appears to have impacted parts of southern Louisiana, where some communities reported over eight inches of rainfall in just 24 hours.
“You had training storms just dumping buckets of rain over the same spots, which is why we’re seeing a lot of clustering near Lake Charles, Louisiana, in between I-10 and I-49,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Haley Meier said while pointing out storm reports.
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A rather unusual weather pattern for May, known as an omega block, is largely responsible for the stagnant system, with prolonged periods of warmth in some areas of the country and steady rain in others.
The National Weather Service in New Orleans warns that the aftermath of the rain days later can be just as consequential, with many streams and rivers across the Lower Mississippi Valley at moderate flood stage and likely facing weeks of high water levels.
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DAMAGE REPORTED IN LOUISIANA AFTER POSSIBLE TORNADO AMID ACTIVE WEEK OF WEATHER ALONG GULF COAST
How much more precipitation is expected?
Forecast models show a widespread swath of 2-5 inches of rainfall over the next five days, with some communities possibly seeing totals upwards of a foot into next week.
Cities such as Tallahassee, Florida; Savannah, Georgia; and Charleston, South Carolina are all in the zone of potentially the heaviest precipitation, where rainfall totals could approach double digits before the wet weather pattern winds down.
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“A good two to three inches for a spot like Panama City, Florida, and, for Gulfport, Mississippi, one to two inches. But I do think if we have a couple storms that park overhead and can produce some pretty intense rain rates, which is what’s projected, these numbers maybe under doing it just a touch,” said Meier.
While the flash flood threat is elevated through the week and into the weekend, it is not currently near the top of the threat scale – thanks in part to many areas along the Eastern Seaboard being in drought conditions and in need of rainfall.
Florida Drought Monitor
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KNOW YOUR FLOOD TERMINOLOGY: WHAT FLOOD WATCHES, WARNINGS AND EMERGENCIES REALLY MEAN
In addition to any storm potentially becoming strong to severe, with hail and damaging winds, it’s the rainfall and associated flooding that have forecasters most concerned.
Flash flooding is the deadliest weather-related hazard in the United States, and, according to NOAA data, an average of 127 people die from it each year.
According to NWS forecasters, just six inches of fast-moving water can knock an adult off their feet, and a foot of floodwater can carry a car away.
New Orleans has broken the daily record for the most rain in one day (5/7/25), with 1.64 inches, and more is coming. The previous record was 1.33 inches of precipitation in 1976.
