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Tag: Storms

  • A Southwest jet that did a ‘Dutch roll’ was parked outside during severe storm

    A Southwest jet that did a ‘Dutch roll’ was parked outside during severe storm

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    DALLAS (AP) — Investigators say a Southwest Airlines jet that experienced an unusual “Dutch roll” in flight had been parked outside during a strong storm and then underwent routine maintenance, after which pilots noticed odd movements of the rudder pedals.

    After the May 25 incident, Southwest mechanics found “substantial” damage in the aircraft’s tail, where the rudder is located, but the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday that it hasn’t determined when the damage occurred.

    The plane, a Boeing 737 Max, was grounded for more than a month but resumed flights last week, according to data from Flightradar24.com.

    Dutch roll is a swaying, rhythmic combination of yaw, or the tail sliding sideways, and the wingtips rocking up and down. The Southwest jet experienced the movement at 34,000 feet and again after descending to 32,000 feet while flying from Phoenix to Oakland, California.

    The condition can be dangerous, and modern planes have a “yaw damper” to stop the oscillations that characterize Dutch roll.

    After the plane landed, Southwest mechanics found fractures in the metal bracket and ribs that hold a backup power control unit to the rudder system. Investigators examined the damaged parts last week in Ogden, Utah.

    The NTSB said the plane was parked overnight at the New Orleans airport on May 16 during thunderstorms that packed gusting winds up to 84 mph, heavy rain and a tornado watch.

    On May 23, the plane underwent scheduled maintenance, and afterward pilots noticed the rudder pedals moving when the yaw damper was engaged. Pilots on the May 25 flight felt the pedals moving during the Dutch roll and even after landing, the NTSB said.

    John Cox, a former airline pilot and now a safety consultant, said the NTSB preliminary report indicates that the plane was most likely damaged during the storm. He said the near hurricane-force winds could have caused the rudder on the parked jet to slam back and forth.

    Cox said there was “absolutely no way in the world” the Dutch roll caused such severe damage, nor does he think it was related to the maintenance work.

    “I do not see this as a Max issue. I do not see this right now as a 737 issue,” he said. “I see this as a one-off.”

    Southwest inspected its 231 Max jets last month and found no other cases of damage around the rudder power units and no problems in new planes it has received since, according to the NTSB.

    Dallas-based Southwest declined to comment.

    It could be a year or longer before the NTSB determines a probable cause for the incident.

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  • Houston community groups strain to keep feeding and cooling a city battered by repeat storms

    Houston community groups strain to keep feeding and cooling a city battered by repeat storms

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    HOUSTON — The deafening hum of a generator was a welcome noise Thursday evening at a Houston independent living center where several dozen seniors had lost power in the wake of Hurricane Beryl.

    Joe and Terri Hackl, who had pulled up with the backup electricity source after delivering hundreds of meals all day, estimate they’ve spent at least 18 hours daily this week filling service gaps around the wind-torn city.

    The couple is part of a volunteer network called CrowdSource Rescue, designed during 2017’s Hurricane Harvey to connect first responders to people in need.

    Likeminded community efforts have brought relief in the form of fresh food and cool air for some of the millions who sweltered this week without electricity. Beryl knocked power out across one of the nation’s largest cities, pressuring electric utility CenterPoint Energy as outages endured days after the Category 1 storm had passed.

    While nonprofit and mutual aid organizations have honed their disaster services in a city frequently battered by severe weather, some now find themselves drained by repeat deadly events. A May storm already strained food and energy supplies with hurricane-force winds that similarly left electricity lacking.

    It’s been a challenge for CrowdSource Rescue to allocate generators with such great need, executive director Matthew Marchetti said.

    The organization has just 30 compared to the 300 it bought after money poured in during Texas’ record winter freeze in 2021. Many storms have since depleted resources, and donations are harder to come by, he said.

    “The banner cry has been ‘Houston Strong,’” he said. “I kind of want to be ‘Houston Normal’ for a while.”

    It’s difficult to make people whole when shocks come frequently, West Street Recovery co-Director Ben Hirsch said. The environmental justice organization repairs homes and navigates federal assistance for families in some of northeast Houston’s most vulnerable parts.

    Government money to fix damage from the May storm only just arrived and people haven’t had time to recover. Mutual aid can only do so much to alleviate systemic barriers to resilience, Hirsch said.

    “Mutual aid is really good at giving out hot meals and mucking out houses,” he said. “But we need to bury our power lines and build massive flood infrastructure.”

    Experts forecast unprecedented ocean heat will help make this one of the busiest Atlantic hurricane seasons on record and climate change is intensifying the strongest hurricanes.

    Worried that damaging hurricanes are brewing so early, Sally Ray, director of domestic funds at the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, said donors should more strategically be “supporting these communities in the long term to make them better prepared for what may come next.”

    During times of crisis, preestablished community ties become especially important for nonprofits, which often have the deepest connections with some of the hardest-hit communities, Ray said.

    That includes groups like Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston. About six dozen drivers deliver 2,000 hot meals daily through its Meals on Wheels program, checking in on homebound residents, operations Director Matthew Wright said.

    The nonprofit also provides people with five shelf-stable meals each in June ahead of hurricane season. Beryl hit so early that Meals on Wheels plans to deliver another round soon.

    Annie Jones, 62, received an emergency box before the weekend. No longer working after breaking her hip, the lifelong Houston resident said she had just fixed May wind damage to her roof.

    “I know it’s coming,” she said of the frequent storms. “But you don’t get used to it. It’s still devastating.”

    The successive extreme weather events are worrying even the most established nonprofits. Houston Food Bank, which serves 18 southeast Texas counties through more than 1,600 community partners, tries to collect over 40 tractor trailer loads of disaster relief supplies before hurricane season begins in June, said Brian Greene, the organization’s president.

    But the May storm hit when they were still stocking up, forcing them to pull boxes from other food banks as far as Minnesota and Tennessee. That’s feasible when there is only one extreme weather event hitting the country. But he said the nationwide Feeding America network is concerned about the increased prevalence and severity of these scenarios.

    A “disaster-level volume” of supplies — more than 400,000 pounds (181,400 kilograms) — moved Wednesday, Greene said, and he doesn’t want to let down Houston residents who have come to rely on that output.

    “I worry that our ability to meet those expectations, if this is happening with more frequency, it’s going to be really tough,” Greene said.

    The Hackls hadn’t even stopped to clear the debris littering their yard before they were back delivering food, drinks, ice and cleaning supplies Friday.

    Before leaving the independent living center the day prior, Terri Hackl had some advice for what to do with any extra supplies bought by staff.

    “Keep it,” she said. “I can almost guarantee that there will be more storms this year.”

    ___

    Glenn Gamboa contributed reporting.

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and non-profits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • Just a Category 1 hurricane? Don’t be fooled by a number — it could be more devastating than a Cat 5

    Just a Category 1 hurricane? Don’t be fooled by a number — it could be more devastating than a Cat 5

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    Here’s a troubling phrase hurricane forecasters hate but often hear: “It’s just a Category 1. Nothing to worry about.”

    Or even worse: “Tropical storm? Just some wind and rain.”

    But look at Hurricane Beryl, which hit Texas this week as a “mere” Category 1 storm — far weaker in wind strength than when it swept through the Caribbean as a Cat 5 just days earlier — yet still knocked out power to 2.7 million customers. The storm has been blamed for eight deaths in the U.S.

    Beryl is not the only example. By the numbers, Tropical Storm Fay in 2008 didn’t even register on the scale of dangerous storms before it made four separate landfalls in Florida. In this case, it was not Fay’s strength, but its speed — or lack thereof — that turned out to be the key. The listless storm parked itself over the state for days, dumping as much as 25 inches (64 centimeters) of rain in some places. Floods killed crops and destroyed homes. Roads were so flooded that alligators swam alongside first responders as they rescued people stranded in their homes.

    The Saffir-Simpson Scale — which measures the strength of a hurricane’s winds on a scale of Category 1 to Category 5, with 5 being the strongest — was introduced to the public in 1973, the year that gas prices spiked from 39 cents to 55 cents a gallon and Tony Orlando and Dawn had the #1 hit of the year with “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree.”

    In other words, times have changed, and so should the way people think about how dangerous a storm is when it’s heading their way.

    Or think about it in terms of your health: While it’s important to check your blood pressure, it’s only one of many measures that determine how fit you are.

    When monitoring storms, “Don’t focus on the category,” advises Craig Fugate, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency who also was emergency management director in Florida during some of the state’s worst storms. “We really need to talk about the hurricane’s impacts, not a number” that applies only to wind strength.

    Forecasters developed the Saffir-Simpson scale — and other tools such as flood maps and storm prediction cones — as a type of shorthand to easily and quickly convey a storm’s severity and reach, but they have taken on oversize roles, Fugate said.

    “We’re finding that there’s a lot of things in emergency management where we didn’t really think through how we’re going to communicate, and we ended up stuck with these legacy descriptions that are hard to shake,” he said.

    The circumference of a storm, how fast it’s moving and the amount of rain it delivers are all factors that matter, as is the place where it hits: its geography, its population and the quality of its infrastructure. Also, it’s important to remember that tornadoes can form regardless of a storm’s size.

    A Category 5 storm that’s compact and moving quickly could cause far less damage than a weaker, wetter storm with a huge circumference that stalls over a populated area, Fugate notes.

    For example, Hurricane Charley and Hurricane Ida were both Category 4 storms. But Charley, which struck Florida’s southwest Gulf Coast in 2004, was compact and lost strength quickly as it moved inland. Ida, which came ashore in Louisiana in 2021, spawned deadly tornadoes and catastrophic flooding as far away as the northeastern United States. Sixty people were killed in New York and New Jersey alone. It also turned out to be the second-costliest storm in U.S. history, surpassed only by Hurricane Katrina.

    “Charley was a Cat 4 and was very devastating where it made landfall, but Hurricane Ida was a much bigger storm and caused much more widespread devastation,” Fugate noted.

    It’s fine to follow The Weather Channel and watch updates from the National Hurricane Center when a storm forms and starts making its way toward land, but the closer it gets, the better it is to seek out local weather information, Fugate says.

    “Everyone focuses on the Hurricane Center,” he said. “They’re responsible for storm intensity and track. They’re not necessarily going to have all the local impacts.”

    A better place to go as a storm approaches, Fugate says, is the National Weather Service’s homepage, where you can type in a ZIP code and see what’s happening in your area.

    “Your (regional) National Weather Service office is taking all that information and they’re localizing it so they can tell you what kind of wind you can expect, what kind of flooding you can expect,” Fugate says. “Are you in a storm surge area? When are the high tides?”

    Relying on FEMA flood zone maps to determine a storm’s potential impact is as ill-advised as depending solely on the Saffir-Simpson scale, Fugate warns.

    “People think, ‘Well, it’s a flood map. If I don’t live in the zone, I don’t flood.’ No! It’s an insurance rate map. Not being in that special risk area doesn’t mean you don’t flood, it just means the insurance is cheaper.”

    Also, don’t be fooled by the term “100-year-flood zone.” It does not, as many assume, mean that the zone only floods every 100 years; rather that there is a 1% risk of flooding, Fugate notes.

    Finally, don’t be misled by the forecast cone.

    The cone — which for a reason is called the “cone of uncertainty” — shows where the center of a hurricane might go, but not how far out storm-force winds will extend.

    People can be injured, killed or have heavy property losses outside the cone — a lesson that residents in the Northeast learned during Ida.

    One mistake is to look at the graphic and think, “‘I’m not in the cone, I’m good,’” Fugate says. “That’s not what it means!”

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  • Beryl makes landfall in Texas as a Category 1 hurricane, knocking out power to more than 1 million

    Beryl makes landfall in Texas as a Category 1 hurricane, knocking out power to more than 1 million

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    MATAGORDA, Texas — Power outages are mounting along the Texas coast after Beryl came ashore Monday and lashed Houston with heavy rains and powerful winds as the storm moved inland.

    More than 1 million homes and businesses were without power hours after Beryl made landfall, according to CenterPoint Energy in Houston. High waters quickly began to close streets across Houston and flood warnings were in effect across a wide stretch of the Texas coast.

    The National Weather Service expected Beryl to weaken to a tropical storm Monday and a tropical depression Tuesday, forecasting a turn to the northeast and increase in speed Monday night and Tuesday. The storm reached the U.S. after leaving a trail of destruction over the last week in Mexico and the Caribbean.

    The storm’s center hit land as a Category 1 hurricane around 4 a.m. about 85 miles southwest of Houston with top sustained winds of 80 mph (128.7 kph) while moving north at 12 mph (19.3 kph), the National Weather Service reported. On Monday morning, the storm had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph).

    High waters quickly began closing roads around Houston, which was again under flood warnings after heavy storms in recent months washed out neighborhoods and knocked out power across the nation’s fourth-largest city.

    More than 1,000 flights have been canceled at Houston’s two airports, according to tracking data from FlightAware.

    Beryl dumped soaking rains across Houston after coming ashore and was expected to bring damaging winds into East Texas, near Louisiana, as the storm pushed north after making landfall.

    “Beryl’s moving inland but this is not the end of the story yet,” said Jack Beven, senior hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center.

    Beryl strengthened and became a hurricane again late Sunday. The storm had weakened after leaving a path of deadly destruction through parts of Mexico and the Caribbean.

    A hurricane warning remains in effect for the Texas coast from Mesquite Bay north to Port Bolivar, the center said.

    The storm’s center is expected to move over eastern Texas on Monday and then through the lower Mississippi Valley into the Ohio Valley on Tuesday and Wednesday, the weather service said.

    People on the Texas coast boarded up windows and left beach towns under an evacuation order. As the storm neared the coast Sunday, Texas officials warned of power outages and flooding but also expressed worry that not enough residents and beach vacationers in Beryl’s path had heeded warnings to leave.

    “One of the things that kind of trigger our concern a little bit, we’ve looked at all of the roads leaving the coast and the maps are still green,” said Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is serving as the state’s acting governor while Gov. Greg Abbott is travelling overseas. “So we don’t see many people leaving.”

    Tropical storm winds extended 115 miles (185 kilometers) from the center and the hurricane center warned residents to be prepared for possible flash flooding in parts of middle, upper and eastern Texas as well as Arkansas as the storm gradually turns to the north and then northeast later Monday.

    Along the Texas coast, many residents and business owners took the typical storm precautions but also expressed uncertainty about the storm’s intensity.

    In Port Lavaca, Jimmy May fastened plywood over the windows of his electrical supply company and said he wasn’t concerned about the possible storm surge. He recalled his business had escaped flooding in a previous hurricane that brought a 20-foot (6-meter) storm surge.

    “In town, you know, if you’re in the low-lying areas, obviously, you need to get out of there,” he said.

    At the nearby marina, Percy Roberts showed his neighbor Ken Waller how to properly secure his boat as heavy winds rolled in from the bay Sunday evening.

    “This is actually going to be the first hurricane I’m going to be experiencing,” Waller said, noting he is a little nervous but feels safe following Roberts’ lead. “Pray for the best but expect the worst, I guess.”

    The earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic, Beryl caused at least 11 deaths as it passed through the Caribbean on its way to Texas. The storm ripped off doors, windows and roofs with devastating winds and storm surge fueled by the Atlantic’s record warmth.

    Three times during its one week of life, Beryl has gained 35 mph (56 kph) in wind speed in 24 hours or less, the official weather service definition of rapid intensification.

    Beryl’s explosive growth into an unprecedented early whopper of a storm indicates the hot water of the Atlantic and Caribbean and what the Atlantic hurricane belt can expect for the rest of the storm season, experts said.

    Texas officials warned people along the entire coastline to prepare for possible flooding, heavy rain and wind. The hurricane warning extended from Baffin Bay, south of Corpus Christi, to Sargent, south of Houston.

    Beryl lurked as another potential heavy rain event for Houston, where storms in recent months have knocked out power across the nation’s fourth-largest city and flooded neighborhoods. A flash flood watch was in effect for a wide swath of the Texas coast, where forecasters expected Beryl to dump as much as 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain in some areas.

    Potential storm surges between 4 and 7 feet (1.22 and 2.13 meters) above ground level were forecast around Matagorda. The warnings extended to the same coastal areas where Hurricane Harvey came ashore in 2017 as a Category 4 hurricane, far more powerful than Beryl’s expected intensity by the time the storm reaches landfall.

    Those looking to catch a flight out of the area found a closing window for air travel as Beryl moved closer. Hundreds of flights from Houston’s two major commercial airports were delayed by midafternoon Sunday and dozens more canceled, according to FlightAware data.

    In Corpus Christi, officials asked visitors to cut their trips short and return home early if possible. Residents were advised to secure homes by boarding up windows if necessary and using sandbags to guard against possible flooding.

    The White House said Sunday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had sent emergency responders, search-and-rescue teams, bottled water and other resources along the coast.

    Several coastal counties called for voluntary evacuations in low-lying areas that are prone to flooding. Local officials also banned beach camping and urged tourists traveling on the Fourth of July holiday weekend to move recreational vehicles from coastal parks.

    Beryl battered Mexico as a Category 2 hurricane last week, toppling trees but causing no injuries or deaths before weakening to a tropical storm as it moved across the Yucatan Peninsula.

    Before hitting Mexico, Beryl wrought destruction in Jamaica, Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Three people were reported dead in Grenada, three in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, three in Venezuela and two in Jamaica.

    ___

    Gonzalez reported from McAllen, Texas. Associated Press reporters Margery A. Beck in Omaha, Nebraska, Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City and Julie Walker in New York contributed.

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  • Texas coastal residents told to expect power outages, flooding as Beryl moves closer to landfall

    Texas coastal residents told to expect power outages, flooding as Beryl moves closer to landfall

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    MATAGORDA, Texas — Texas officials are telling coastal residents to expect power outages and floodings as Beryl was forecast to regain hurricane strength before making landfall early Monday.

    The outer bands of Beryl began lashing communities along the Texas shoreline on Sunday, bringing rain and intensifying winds. The storm was projected to make landfall around the coastal town of Matagorda, about 100 miles (161 kilometers) south of Houston, but officials warned that the path could still change.

    Nim Kidd, the chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, said residents along the coast should expect power outages as Beryl comes ashore.

    Much of Texas’ shoreline was under a hurricane warning and officials in several coastal counties urged tourists along the beach for the Fourth of the July holiday to leave.

    The earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic, Beryl caused at least 11 deaths as it passed through the Caribbean on its way to Texas. The storm ripped off doors, windows and roofs with devastating winds and storm surge fueled by the Atlantic’s record warmth.

    “We’re seeing the outer bands of Beryl approach the Texas coast now and the weather should be going downhill especially this afternoon and evening,” Eric Blake, a senior hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center, said Sunday morning. “People should definitely be in their safe space by nightfall and we’re expecting the hurricane to make landfall somewhere in the middle Texas coast overnight.”

    Beryl would be the 10th hurricane to hit Texas in July since 1851 and the fourth in the last 25 years, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.

    Three times in its one week of life, Beryl has gained 35 mph in wind speed in 24 hours or less, the official weather service definition of rapid intensification.

    Beryl’s explosive growth into an unprecedented early whopper of a storm shows the literal hot water of the Atlantic and Caribbean, and what the Atlantic hurricane belt can expect for the rest of the storm season, experts said.

    Texas officials warned people along the entire coastline to prepare for possible flooding, heavy rain and wind. The hurricane warning extended from Baffin Bay, south of Corpus Christi, to Sargent, south of Houston.

    Beryl lurked as another potential heavy rain event for Houston, where storms in recent months have knocked out power across the nation’s fourth-largest city and flooded neighborhoods. A flash flood watch was in effect for a wide swath of the Texas coast, where forecasters expected Beryl to dump as much as 10 inches of rain in some areas.

    Potential storm surges between 4 and 6 feet above ground level were forecast around Matagorda. The warnings extended to the same coastal areas where Hurricane Harvey came ashore in 2017 as a Category 4 hurricane, which was far more powerful than Beryl’s expected intensity by the time the storm reaches landfall.

    In Port Lavaca, Jimmy May was boarding up his business Jimmy Hayes Electric on Sunday to protect the glass, “in case we get a little bit too much wind, too much trash blowing,” he said. He said he wasn’t concerned about the forecasted high winds or possible storm surge in town but people in lower-lying areas “need to get out of there.”

    Those looking to catch a flight out of the area could find that option more difficult as Beryl closes in on the Texas coast. While the majority of flights from Houston’s two major commercial airports were leaving on time as of midday Sunday, more than 65 flights had been delayed and another four canceled, according to FlightAware data.

    In Corpus Christi, officials asked visitors to cut their trips short and return home early if possible. Residents were advised to secure homes by boarding up windows if necessary and using sandbags to guard against possible flooding.

    Traffic was nonstop for the past three days at an Ace Hardware in the city as customers bought tarps, rope, duct tape, sandbags and generators, employee Elizabeth Landry said Saturday.

    “They’re just worried about the wind, the rain,” she said. “They’re wanting to prepare just in case.”

    Ben Koutsoumbaris, general manager of Island Market on Corpus Christi’s Padre Island, said there has been “definitely a lot of buzz about the incoming storm,” with customers stocking up on food and drinks, particularly meat and beer.

    The White House said Sunday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had sent emergency responders, search-and-rescue teams, bottled water, and other resources along the coast.

    Some coastal cities called for voluntary evacuations in low-lying areas that are prone to flooding, banned beach camping and urged tourists traveling on the Fourth of July holiday weekend to move recreational vehicles from coastal parks. In Refugio County, north of Corpus Christi, officials issued a mandatory evacuation order for its 6,700 residents.

    Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is acting governor while Gov. Greg Abbott is traveling in Taiwan, issued a preemptive disaster declaration for 121 counties.

    Beryl earlier this week battered Mexico as a Category 2 hurricane, toppling trees but causing no injuries or deaths before weakening to a tropical storm as it moved across the Yucatan Peninsula.

    Before hitting Mexico, Beryl wrought destruction in Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Barbados. Three people were reported dead in Grenada, three in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, three in Venezuela and two in Jamaica.

    ___

    Lozano reported from Houston. Associated Press writer Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska, and radio reporter Julie Walker in New York contributed.

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  • Crews search Lake Michigan for 2 men who went missing while boating in Indiana waters

    Crews search Lake Michigan for 2 men who went missing while boating in Indiana waters

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    HAMMOND, Ind. — Crews were searching Lake Michigan for two suburban Chicago men Saturday, more than a day after they went missing as a large group of people were boating along northwestern Indiana’s coastline, authorities said.

    Strong winds and high waves were creating “very poor conditions” on the lake Saturday and were hampering the search efforts, Indiana conservation officer Alex Neel said.

    He said 12 people were on the boat Friday afternoon off of Hammond, Indiana, when one man jumped into the lake to go swimming but began struggling, prompting a second man to jump in to help him, only to also find himself struggling in the waters.

    A third man then put on a life jacket and entered the lake to try to help his two companions, but he also began struggling before strong winds pushed him and the two other men away from the boat, Neel said.

    The nine other people on the boat did not know how to operate the vessel, he said. They called 911 and also shot off flares. All nine were later rescued by conservation officers, who found the boat nearly 2 1/2 miles (4 kilometers) off of the Whiting, Indiana, shoreline and towed it back to shore, Neel said.

    Indiana conservation officers began searching for the three missing men about 2:40 p.m. Friday. Two hours later, the U.S. Coast Guard located the man wearing a life jacket in the lake. He was treated at a hospital and released.

    One of the two missing men is from northern Illinois community of Elk Grove Village, and the other man is from the nearby village of Mount Prospect, Neel said.

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  • Hurricane Beryl kills at least 6 people

    Hurricane Beryl kills at least 6 people

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    KINGSTON, Jamaica — Hurricane Beryl was roaring by Wednesday, bringing fierce winds and heavy rain after the powerful Category 4 storm earlier killed at least six people and caused significant damage in the southeast Caribbean.

    The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Beryl’s eyewall was “brushing the south coast of Jamaica.”

    Wind-whipped rain pounded the island for hours as residents heeded authorities’ call to shelter until the storm had passed. Power was knocked out in much of the capital.

    Prime Minister Andrew Holness said on Wednesday afternoon that nearly 500 people were placed in shelters.

    “We are placing emphasis on ensuring they are comfortable and well looked after,” he said in a social media post.

    Before Beryl’s arrival in Kingston, people had earlier boarded up windows, fishermen pulled their boats out of the water and workers dismantled roadside advertising boards to protect them from the lashing winds.

    Kingston resident Pauline Lynch said that she had stockpiled food and water in anticipation of the storm’s arrival. With wind already driving rain, Lynch said, “I have no control over what is coming so I just have to pray that all people of Jamaica is safe and we don’t suffer no deaths, no loss.”

    By midday, winds already howled in the capital, turning the sea into churning whitecaps as Beryl’s eye scraped by the island’s southern coast.

    “We are very concerned about a wide variety of life threatening impacts in Jamaica,” including storm surge, high winds and flash flooding, said Jon Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather.

    Porter called Beryl “the strongest and most dangerous hurricane threat that Jamaica has faced, probably, in decades.”

    A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. Beryl was forecast to weaken slightly over the next day or two, but still be at or near major-hurricane strength when it passes near or over Jamaica on Wednesday, near the Cayman Islands on Thursday and into Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Friday, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

    Jamaica was under a state of emergency as the island was declared a disaster zone hours before the impact of Hurricane Beryl.

    Holness said that the disaster zone declaration will remain for the next seven days. He also announced an island-wide curfew between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

    Security forces “will be fully mobilized to maintain public order and assist with disaster relief. As soon as the hurricane has passed, the security forces have developed strategic plans to counter any potential threat of looting or any other opportunistic crimes,” Holness warned.

    An evacuation order was also issued for communities across Jamaica that are prone to flooding and landslides. Holness urged Jamaicans to move away from low-lying areas.

    A hurricane watch was in effect for Haiti’s southern coast and the Yucatan’s east coast. Belize issued a tropical storm watch stretching south from its border with Mexico to Belize City.

    Late Monday, Beryl became the earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic and peaked at winds of 165 mph Tuesday before weakening to a still-destructive Category 4. On Wednesday, the storm’s center was about 65 miles west-southwest of Kingston. It had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph and was moving west-northwest at 20 mph. Hurricane strength winds extended 45 miles from the center.

    In Miami, hurricane center director Michael Brennan in an online briefing said people on the island should plan to stay sheltered throughout the day Wednesday with conditions only beginning to improve overnight.

    Jamaica’s southern coast, where Kingston is located, was expected to bear the brunt of Beryl with coastal water levels rising to 6 or 9 feet above normal tide levels in some area.

    Heavy rains of 4 to 8 inches, with up to a foot in isolated areas, threatened flash flooding and mudslides on the mountainous island, he said.

    Mexico’s Caribbean coast was preparing for Beryl Wednesday. The government issued a hurricane warning for the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula from Puerto Costa Maya to Cancun.

    The head of Mexico’s civil defense agency said that Beryl is expected to make a rare double strike on Mexico. Laura Velázquez said the hurricane is expected to make landfall between late Thursday and early Friday along a relatively unpopulated stretch of the Caribbean coast between Tulum and the inland town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto. Because the coast there is largely made up of lagoons and mangroves, there are few resorts or hotels in the area south of Tulum.

    The hurricane is expected to weaken to a tropical storm as it crosses the Yucatan peninsula and reemerge over the weekend at storm strength into the Gulf of Mexico. Velázquez said that Beryl is then expected to hit Mexican territory a second time in the Gulf coast states of Veracruz or Tamaulipas, near the Texas border.

    As Beryl barreled through the Caribbean Sea, rescue crews in southeastern islands fanned out to determine the extent of the damage the hurricane inflicted on Carriacou, an island in Grenada.

    Three people were reported killed in Grenada and Carriacou and another in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, officials said. Two other deaths were reported in northern Venezuela, where five people are missing, officials said. About 25,000 people in that area also were affected by heavy rainfall from Beryl.

    One fatality in Grenada occurred after a tree fell on a house, Kerryne James, the environment minister, told The Associated Press. She said Carriacou and Petit Martinique sustained the greatest damage, with scores of homes and businesses flattened in Carriacou.

    Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said Tuesday there was no power, roads are impassable and the possible rise of the death toll “remains a grim reality.”

    St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has promised to rebuild the archipelago. He noted that 90% of homes on Union Island were destroyed.

    The last strong hurricane to hit the southeast Caribbean was Hurricane Ivan 20 years ago, which killed dozens of people in Grenada.

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    By JOHN MYERS JR. and RENLOY TRAIL – Associated Press

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  • Tropical Cyclone Freddy that hit Africa last year was longest ever: UN agency

    Tropical Cyclone Freddy that hit Africa last year was longest ever: UN agency

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    FILE – A view of a damaged road connecting the two cities of Blantyre and Lilongwe following heavy rains caused by Tropical Cyclone Freddy in Blantyre, Malawi, Tuesday, March 14 2023. The U.N. weather agency said Tuesday, July 2, 2024 that Tropical Cyclone Freddy, a deadly Indian Ocean storm that lashed eastern Africa last year, was confirmed to be the longest-lasting cyclone ever recorded at 36 days. (AP Photo/Thoko Chikondi, File)

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  • Man injured by falling tree in East Orange as fierce storms barrel through Tri-State

    Man injured by falling tree in East Orange as fierce storms barrel through Tri-State

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    NEW YORK (WABC) — Downpours and damaging winds from severe thunderstorms Wednesday night brought down trees across the Tri-State, leading to injuries, transit delays and power outages.

    In East Orange, New Jersey, a witness says a man was found unconscious under tree debris in the backyard of a home.

    The witness says he tried to assist the victim, who is a young father.

    “I heard a crack first, then it hit the building and then it swung over, then the neighbor in the backyard. The next thing you know — it was silent for a second, and then we heard screams from the ladies, then we all ran out and they were saying, ‘he’s under the tree, he’s under the tree,’ so we all ran over there to try and help,” the witness said.

    He and other neighbors ran to the trashed backyard to find frantic family members trying to shake the victim awake. Neighbors attempted CPR as they called 911.

    Police rushed the victim to the hospital, but it’s not clear what his condition is.

    Elsewhere in New Jersey, a large tree landed inches from a big house in Park Ridge. Fortunately, residents were in the home at the time and were not injured.

    In Queens, three people were injured, including one critically, after a tree fell onto a car on Duane Road, according to FDNY officials. They say the three victims had to be extricated from the car. They were all taken to North Shore University Hospital.

    RELATED | Watches, warnings and advisories from the National Weather Service

    That wasn’t the only location where trees had fallen on cars. Citizen App video shows a downed tree on car in East New York, Brooklyn, and in Douglaston, Queens.

    Video from Citizen.com shows a tree that fell on a car in Brooklyn during storms Wednesday night.

    A massive downed tree took up a whole street in Forest Hills, Queens.

    Citizen App video shows a massive tree down in Forest Hills amid severe thunderstorms Wednesday night.

    Storm damage disrupts mass transit

    Mass transit in New York City was also impacted by storm damage.

    M train subway service was delayed in both directions while crews worked to remove a tree from the tracks at Forest Avenue.

    Metro North Harlem line service was suspended between Valhalla and Hawthorne because of fallen trees on the tracks near Valhalla.

    An LIRR train from Penn Station New York to Port Washington was canceled due to a downed tree on the tracks near Bayside, while several NJ Transit rail lines had service impacted by downed trees and other weather conditions.

    Tri-State power outages

    The severe weather also led to thousands of power outages in New York and New Jersey.

    New Jersey reported over 93,000 customers without power as of 10:20 p.m., while New York had over 72,000 customers without power.

    Connecticut reported over 30,000 customers without power Wednesday night.

    What else to expect overnight

    While the main threats of this storm were expected to be damaging wind and hail, a brief tornado couldn’t be ruled out.

    Lee Goldberg has an update on the fierce storms barrelling through the Tri-State.

    The rainfall totals are expected to be range from half an inch to an inch, but there could be localized heavier amounts that could lead to some areas of flash flooding.

    The rain is expected to move out by sunrise Thursday. After the storms move through, Thursday will be more comfortable with a drop in humidity and lower temperatures.

    ALSO WATCH | Thunderous lightning caught on video on Upper West Side

    Video captures a thunderous lightning strike on the Upper West Side.

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  • Tropical Storm Alberto moves inland over northeast Mexico as season’s first named storm

    Tropical Storm Alberto moves inland over northeast Mexico as season’s first named storm

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    TAMPICO, Mexico — Tropical Storm Alberto, the season’s first named storm, rumbled ashore early Thursday and moved inland over northeast Mexico, bringing heavy rains to the parched region.

    The storm was expected to weaken rapidly over land, but carry several inches of desperately needed rain inland to Mexico’s Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and Coahuila states, as well as south Texas.

    Alberto had spurred tropical storm warnings covering most of the western Gulf of Mexico’s coastline from Texas to Veracrus.

    Schools were closed across Tamaulipas state where Alberto came ashore and would be through Friday. Shelters were prepared across the state to receive residents trying to escape high water.

    As much as 5 inches (13 centimeters) to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain was expected in some parts of northeast Mexico and southern Texas, with even higher isolated totals possible, according to the National Hurricane Center. Some higher locations in Mexico could see as much as 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain, which could result in mudslides and flash flooding, especially in the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila and Nuevo Leon.

    Alberto had rumbled toward northeast Mexico as the first named storm of the season, carrying heavy rains that left three people dead. But the storm also brought hope to a region suffering under a prolonged, severe drought.

    Mexican authorities downplayed the risk posed by Alberto and instead pinned their hopes on its ability to ease the parched region’s water needs.

    “The (wind) speeds are not such as to consider it a risk,” said Tamaulipas state Secretary of Hydrological Resources Raúl Quiroga Álvarez during a news conference late Wednesday. Instead, he suggested people greet Alberto happily. “This is what we’ve been waiting for for eight years in all of Tamaulipas.”

    Much of Mexico has been suffering under severe drought, with northern Mexico especially hard hit. Quiroga noted that the state’s reservoirs were low and Mexico owed the United States a massive water debt in their shared use of the Rio Grande.

    “This is a win-win event for Tamaulipas,” he said.

    But in nearby Nuevo Leon state, civil protection authorities reported three deaths linked to Alberto’s rains. They said one man died in the La Silla river in the city of Monterrey, the state capital, and that two minors died from electric shocks in the municipality of Allende. Local media reported that the minors were riding a bicycle in the rain.

    Nuevo Leon Gov. Samuel García wrote on his account on social media platform X that metro and public transportation services would be suspended in Monterrey from Wednesday night until midday Thursday when Alberto has passed.

    Late Wednesday, Alberto was located about 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of Tampico, Mexico, and about 250 miles (402 kilometers) south-southeast of Brownsville, Texas, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. The storm was moving west at 13 miles per hour.

    Alberto was bringing rains and flooding to the coast of Texas as well.

    The U.S. National Weather Service said the main hazard for southern coastal Texas is flooding from excess rain. On Wednesday the NWS said there is “a high probability” of flash flooding in southern coastal Texas. Tornadoes or waterspouts are possible.

    Areas along the Texas coast were seeing some road flooding and dangerous rip currents Wednesday, and waterspouts were spotted offshore.

    In Mexico, residents expressed hope for Alberto bringing rain.

    Blanca Coronel Moral, a resident of Tampico, ventured out to the city’s waterfront Wednesday to await Alberto’s arrival.

    “We have been needing this water that we’re now getting, thank God. Let’s hope that we only get water,” said Coronel Moral. “Our lagoon, which gives us drinking water, is completely dry.”

    Authorities closed schools for the remainder of the week in Tamaulipas as there could be localized flooding.

    As much as 5-10 inches (13-25 centimeters) of rain was expected in some areas along the Texas coast, with even higher isolated totals possible, according to the National Hurricane Center. Some higher locations in Mexico could see as much as 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain, which could result in mudslides and flash flooding, especially in the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila and Nuevo Leon.

    Alberto was casting rain showers on both sides of the border, extending up much of the south Texas coast and south to Mexico’s Veracruz state.

    Alberto was expected to rapidly weaken over land and dissipate Thursday.

    ___

    Martínez Barba reported from Mexico City.

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  • Tropical Storm Alberto—the first named one of the season—leaves 3 dead

    Tropical Storm Alberto—the first named one of the season—leaves 3 dead

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    Tropical Storm Alberto rumbled toward northeast Mexico early Thursday as the first named storm of the season, carrying heavy rains that left three people dead but also brought hope to a region suffering under a prolonged, severe drought.

    Mexican authorities downplayed the risk posed by Alberto and instead pinned their hopes on its ability to ease the parched region’s water needs.

    “The (wind) speeds are not such as to consider it a risk,” said Tamaulipas state Secretary of Hydrological Resources Raúl Quiroga Álvarez during a news conference late Wednesday. Instead, he suggested people greet Alberto happily. “This is what we’ve been for for eight years in all of Tamaulipas.”

    Much of Mexico has been suffering under severe drought, with northern Mexico especially hard hit. Quiroga noted that the state’s reservoirs were low and Mexico owed the United States a massive water debt in their shared use of the Rio Grande.

    “This is a win-win event for Tamaulipas,” he said.

    But in nearby Nuevo Leon state, civil protection authorities reported three deaths linked to Alberto’s rains. They said one man died in the La Silla river in the city of Monterrey, the state capital, and that two minors died from electric shocks in the municipality of Allende. Local media reported that the minors were riding a bicycle in the rain.

    Nuevo Leon Gov. Samuel García wrote on his account on social media platform X that metro and public transportation services would be suspended in Monterrey from Wednesday night until midday Thursday when Alberto has passed.

    Late Wednesday, Alberto was located about 135 miles (220 kilometers) east of Tampico, Mexico, and about 320 miles (510 kilometers) south-southeast of Brownsville, Texas, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. The storm was moving west at 9 miles per hour.

    Alberto was bringing rains and flooding to the coast of Texas as well.

    The U.S. National Weather Service said the main hazard for southern coastal Texas is flooding from excess rain. On Wednesday the NWS said there is “a high probability” of flash flooding in southern coastal Texas. Tornadoes or waterspouts are possible.

    Areas along the Texas coast were seeing some road flooding and dangerous rip currents Wednesday, and waterspouts were spotted offshore.

    In Mexico, residents expressed hope for Alberto bringing rain.

    Blanca Coronel Moral, a resident of Tampico, ventured out to the city’s waterfront Wednesday to await Alberto’s arrival.

    “We have been needing this water that we’re now getting, thank God. Let’s hope that we only get water,” said Coronel Moral. “Our lagoon, which gives us drinking water, is completely dry.”

    Authorities closed schools for the remainder of the week in Tamaulipas as there could be localized flooding.

    As much as 5-10 inches (13-25 centimeters) of rain was expected in some areas along the Texas coast, with even higher isolated totals possible, according to the National Hurricane Center. Some higher locations in Mexico could see as much as 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain, which could result in mudslides and flash flooding, especially in the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila and Nuevo Leon.

    Alberto was casting rain showers on both sides of the border, extending up much of the south Texas coast and south to Mexico’s Veracruz state.

    Alberto was expected to rapidly weaken over land and dissipate Thursday.

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    Alfredo Pena, Mariana Martinez Barba, The Associated Press

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  • Much of U.S. braces for extreme weather, from southern heat wave to possible snow in the Rockies

    Much of U.S. braces for extreme weather, from southern heat wave to possible snow in the Rockies

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    After days of intense flooding in Florida, that state and many others are bracing for an intense heat wave, while the Pacific Northwest will experience unseasonably cold weather and the potential for late-season snow in the Rocky Mountains early next week.

    The chaotic weather map includes the potential for severe thunderstorms developing in between the hot and cold fronts. Forecasters said the colliding fronts could lead to areas of flash flooding between eastern Nebraska and northern Wisconsin on Saturday night, as well as strong storms across parts of eastern Montana into North and South Dakota.

    Meanwhile, a plume of tropical moisture will reach the central Gulf Coast during the next couple days, with heavy rain expected to start Monday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

    Forecasters said the threat of heavy rains in Florida continues to dissipate, but some thunderstorms could cause local flooding given the already saturated soil. Some areas between Miami and Fort Lauderdale were left underwater in recent days as persistent storms dumped up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) in southern parts of the state.

    The damaging no-name storm system coincided with the early June start of hurricane season, which this year is forecast to be among the most active in recent memory amid concerns that climate change is increasing storm intensity.

    With flood waters receding in Florida, temperatures were rising Saturday across much of the southern U.S.

    In Atlanta, where temperatures were forecast to near 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) on Saturday and Sunday, city officials opened a cooling center to provide relief from the heat. The city announced that a “Family and Friends Field Day” had been postponed because of the high temperatures forecast.

    And in the west Texas city of El Paso, Saturday highs were expected to approach 105 degrees F (40.6 degrees C) and the National Weather Service issued a heat advisory through Monday morning for the region. The city has opened five cooling centers that will operate daily until further notice.

    Temperatures in the Mid-Atlantic and New England will likely peak in the mid to upper 90s next week, which is “nothing to sneeze at even in the middle of the summer, let alone this early in the summer,” said National Weather Service meteorologist William Churchill.

    “That’s what’s particularly remarkable about this,” he said, noting that high humidity will also make it feel even hotter in many places.

    Last year, the U.S. had the most heat waves — abnormally hot weather lasting more than two days — since 1936. In the South and Southwest, last year was the worst on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

    Next week’s heat wave will ramp up Sunday in the center of the country before spreading eastward, the National Weather Service said, with some areas likely to see extreme heat in reaching daily records. The heat wave could last all week and into the weekend in many places.

    While most of the country experiences the season’s first stretch of hot weather, parts of Montana have been placed under winter storm watches with a potential for wet snow falling Monday night.

    Churchill said the northwestern cold front is connected to the heat wave because one extreme is often accompanied by the other.

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  • Extended marine forecast

    Extended marine forecast

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    Forecast for coastal waters east of Ipswich Bay and the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary

    Friday: Northwest winds around 5 knots, becoming southeast in the afternoon. Seas 2 to 3 feet. Wave detail: Southeast 3 feet at 8 seconds. Patchy fog in the morning with visibility 1 to 3 nautical miles.

    Friday night: South winds 5 to 10 knots, becoming west after midnight. Seas 2 to 3 feet. Wave detail: southeast 3 feet at 9 seconds and south 1 foot at 2 seconds.

    Saturday: West winds around 10 knots. Seas 2 to 3 feet. Wave detail: Southeast 3 feet at 9 seconds and west 2 feet at 3 seconds.

    Saturday night: West winds 10 to 15 knots. Gusts up to 20 knots after midnight. Seas 2 to 3 feet. Wave detail: West 2 feet at 3 seconds and southeast 2 feet at 8 seconds.

    Sunday and Sunday night: West winds 10 to 15 knots with gusts up to 20 knots. Seas 2 to 3 feet. Wave detail: Southwest 2 feet at 3 seconds and southeast 2 feet at 8 seconds. A chance of showers.

    Monday through Tuesday night: Southwest winds 5 to 10 knots. Seas 2 to 3 feet.

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  • Scattered storms could become severe Thursday afternoon

    Scattered storms could become severe Thursday afternoon

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    Scattered storms could become severe Thursday afternoon

    Strong winds, downpours and hail are the main concerns

    SURE. YEAH. MARQUISE. WE’RE OFF TO A MUGGY START TODAY. YOU CAN REALLY FEEL IT OUT THERE. YEAH, MUGGY. IT’S WARM, IT’S HUMID. IT’S SWAMPY. GATOR SWAMP. THERE WE GO. YEAH, YEAH. IT ALL TIES TOGETHER, RIGHT. BUT OUT THE DOOR RIGHT NOW YOUR RELATIVE HUMIDITY. WELL THAT SITS IN THE UPPER 80S AND THE LOWER 90S DUE TO THE FACT THAT WE TRAPPED IN THE HEAT AND THE MOISTURE OVERNIGHT. SO HERE WE ARE, 77 DEGREES WITH PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES IN ORLANDO AND YOUR RELATIVE HUMIDITY. THAT’S AT 90%. THAT’S GOING TO PLAY A MAJOR ROLE IN THE FORECAST LATER THIS AFTERNOON, AS THE COMBINATION OF THE HEAT’S, THE HUMIDITY AND COLLIDING SEA BREEZES WILL LEAD TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS. SO RIGHT NOW, 80 DEGREES, THAT’S THE WARMEST PLACE TO BE IF YOU’RE IN LEESBURG. OTHERWISE, WE SHOW A MIX OF MID AND UPPER 70S EARLY ON THIS MORNING, BUT MAN OH MAN, WILL THOSE THERMOMETERS CONTINUE TO RISE. WILL BE ANYWHERE BETWEEN 89 AND 98 DEGREES AT OUR WARMEST PEAK LATER THIS AFTERNOON. AND HERE’S THAT THREAT FOR SEVERE WEATHER. IT’S GOING TO BE A LATE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING THREAT, A MARGINAL RISK FROM THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER, IN WHICH THE MAJOR THREAT WILL BE DAMAGING WIND. BUT WE’LL ALSO HAVE THE CHANCE FOR HAIL. AND WE CAN’T RULE OUT AN ISOLATED TORNADO. SO JUST BE WEATHER AWARE THIS AFTERNOON, AS RAIN CHANCES WILL RISE ANYWHERE BETWEEN 65 AND 70% HERE IN ORLANDO, BETWEEN 6 AND 7 EARLY THIS EVENING. ULTIMATELY, NO, NOTHING TO SHOW HERE ON THE RADAR CURRENTLY, BUT CHANGES WILL HAPPEN AS WE MOVE THROUGHOUT THE DAY. LOTS OF SUNSHINE THAT WILL WARM UP YOUR TEMPERATURES, INCREASING THE INSTABILITY AND THEN BOOM, THERE YOU HAVE IT. AT 4:00, STORMS WILL BE POPPING UP ACROSS THE I-4 QUARTER, MORE OF A PREDOMINANT WESTERLY PUSH, SO THESE STORMS WILL SLIDE ACROSS I 95 INTO TITUSVILLE AND PALM BAY BEFORE THEY START TO DISSIPATE RIGHT AROUND EIGHT 9:00. JUST AFTER SUNSET. ULTIMATELY, WE CERTAINLY NEED THE RAIN HERE IN CENTRAL FLORIDA. CHECK THIS OUT. IF YOU’RE IN ORLANDO, YOU’RE ABOUT SIX, MAYBE EVEN CLOSER TO SEVEN INCHES BELOW YOUR SEASONAL AVERAGE. IN REGARDS TO RAIN, 6.85 TO BE EXACT. SO ANY PRECIPITATION THAT MOTHER NATURE SENDS OUR WAY, WELL, WE DEFINITELY HAVE TO BE THANKFUL FOR THAT. COULD BE UP TO AN INCH, MAYBE AN INCH, AND A QUARTER BEFORE THE WORKWEEK IS SAID AND DONE. BUT WE DRY OUT JUST IN TIME FOR THE WEEKEND. BUT WE’RE HEATING UP ONCE AGAIN. 97 ON SATURDAY, 98 ON SUNDAY, AND AS YOU FACTOR IN THE HUMIDITY, IT WILL FEEL LIKE TEMPERATURES ARE BREAKING DOWN THE TRIPLE DIGIT BARRIER BOTH DAYS ACROSS YOUR WEEKEND. LOTS OF SUNSHINE THERE, BUT RAIN SHOWERS WILL COOL YOU DOWN AS YOU MOVE THROUGHOUT THE WORK WEEK. LOOK F

    Scattered storms could become severe Thursday afternoon

    Strong winds, downpours and hail are the main concerns

    It certainly will be another hot/stormy one on tap for us today in Central Florida with highs projected to reach the mid and upper nineties. However, as we progress throughout the afternoon, sea breezes will collide along the I-4 corridor leading to numerous scattered thunderstorms. The storm prediction center has a marginal threat for severe weather (1/5) with the likely impacts of hail, strong damaging winds, frequent downpours, and a small tornado chance. As of this morning, there is a probable chance for a “Severe Thunderstorm Update” during our afternoon/early evening shows between 4:00 and 8:00 pm. But model data is showing a dying threat after 8:00.

    It certainly will be another hot/stormy one on tap for us today in Central Florida with highs projected to reach the mid and upper nineties. However, as we progress throughout the afternoon, sea breezes will collide along the I-4 corridor leading to numerous scattered thunderstorms. The storm prediction center has a marginal threat for severe weather (1/5) with the likely impacts of hail, strong damaging winds, frequent downpours, and a small tornado chance. As of this morning, there is a probable chance for a “Severe Thunderstorm Update” during our afternoon/early evening shows between 4:00 and 8:00 pm. But model data is showing a dying threat after 8:00.

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  • Cyclone floods coastal villages and cuts power in Bangladesh, where 800,000 had evacuated

    Cyclone floods coastal villages and cuts power in Bangladesh, where 800,000 had evacuated

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    DHAKA, Bangladesh — A cyclone flooded coastal villages and left hundreds of thousands of people without power Monday after making landfall overnight along India’s West Bengal state and Bangladesh, where nearly 800,000 residents had evacuated.

    Cyclone Remal started lashing Bangladesh’s southern coast late Sunday and was expected to take five to six hours to cross the vast coastal region, Bangladesh’s Meteorological Department in Dhaka said early Monday.

    TV stations reported that dozens of Bangladeshi coastal villages were flooded as many flood protection embankments were either washed away or damaged by the force of the storm surges. Authorities gave no casualty figures yet, but Dhaka-based Somoy TV reported that at least two people died.

    Moderate to heavy rainfall had been forecast in coastal districts in India’s West Bengal state. A 1 meter (3.1 feet) storm surge was expected to flood low-lying coastal areas.

    The India Meteorological Department expected Remal to reach maximum wind speeds of up to 120 kilometers per hour (75 mph), with gusts up to 135 kph (85 mph) in the area of West Bengal’s Sagar Island and Bangladesh’s Khepupara region on Sunday night.

    On Sunday, Bangladesh evacuated nearly 800,000 people from vulnerable areas. Bangladesh’s junior minister for disaster management and relief, Mohibur Rahman, said volunteers have been deployed to move the evacuees to up to 9,000 cyclone shelters. The government also closed all schools in the region until further notice.

    India’s Kolkata airport was closed for the day Monday. Bangladesh shut down the airport in the southeastern city of Chattogram and canceled all domestic flights to and from Cox’s Bazar.

    Bangladesh also suspended loading and unloading in the country’s largest main seaport in Chittagong and moved more than a dozen ships from jetties to the deep sea as a precaution.

    Remal was the first cyclone in the Bay of Bengal ahead of this year’s monsoon season, which runs from June to September.

    India’s coasts are often hit by cyclones, but changing climate patterns have increased the storms’ intensity, making preparations for natural disasters more urgent.

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  • Forecasters warn Oklahoma may see tornadoes; Texas could bake in triple-digit temperatures

    Forecasters warn Oklahoma may see tornadoes; Texas could bake in triple-digit temperatures

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    OKLAHOMA CITY — Forecasters warned of another day of heightened risk of dangerous tornadoes in the Midwest on Saturday and told people in South Texas they could experience triple-digit temperatures — and that’s with four weeks to go before summer starts.

    The weather service in Oklahoma compared the day to “ a gasoline-soaked brush pile.” Forecasters aren’t certain storms will form, but any that do could explode with large hail, dangerous winds and tornadoes.

    “There’s a small chance most of the matches are duds and we only see a few storms today. Still, that’s not a match I would want to play with. It only takes one storm to be impactful,” the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma, wrote on Facebook.

    Excessive heat, especially for May, is the danger in South Texas, where the heat index is forecast to approach near 120 degrees F (49 degrees C) during the weekend. The region is on the north end of a heat dome that stretches from Mexico to South America, National Weather Service meteorologist Zack Taylor said.

    Sunday looks like the hottest day with record-setting highs for late May forecast for Austin, Brownsville, Dallas and San Antonio, Taylor said.

    The temperature was approaching 90 degrees F (32 degrees) and the heat index was 104 F (40 C) in Brownsville on the U.S./Mexico border by midmorning Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.

    Red Flag fire warnings are also in place in west Texas, all of New Mexico and parts of Oklahoma, Arizona and Colorado, where very low humidity of below 10%, wind gusts of up to 60 mph (97 kph) combine with the hot temperatures.

    “We’ve got very dry air, warm temperatures and strong winds creating a high fire danger over a wide area … that can lead to rapidly spreading or uncontrollable fires,” Taylor said.

    Meanwhile, several inches of snow fell Friday into early Saturday in Rolla, North Dakota, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the Canadian border.

    April and May have been a busy month for tornadoes, especially in the Midwest. Climate change is heightening the severity of storms around the world.

    April had the country’s second-highest number of tornadoes on record. And in 2024, the U.S. is already 25% ahead of the average number of twisters, according to the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

    Iowa has been the hardest hit so far this week. A deadly twister devastated Greenfield. And other storms brought flooding and wind damage elsewhere in the state.

    The storm system causing the severe weather is expected to move east as the Memorial Day weekend continues, bringing rain that could delay the Indianapolis 500 auto race Sunday in Indiana and more severe storms in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Kentucky.

    The risk of severe weather moves into North Carolina and Virginia on Monday, forecasters said.

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  • Iowa storm damage: A look at the powerful tornadoes that tore through the Hawkeye State

    Iowa storm damage: A look at the powerful tornadoes that tore through the Hawkeye State

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    Tuesday’s storms produced fierce tornadoes in southwest Iowa that caused massive damage in the town of Greenfield, where authorities confirmed multiple fatalities, and toppled several wind turbines in Adams County. Another apparent tornado blew across Highway 30 in Story County, overturning a semi-truck. Tuesday was the second deadly outbreak of tornadoes in Iowa this spring. A western Iowa man died April 26 after a tornado hit the small town of Minden.Wednesday looks to be calm after the storm. It’ll be sunny and breezy in Des Moines with a high of 75 degrees, according to the latest forecast.Here’s a look at the damage left behind by the deadly storms:Northern Polk County sustains damage from tornadoesHomes north of Elkhart near White Oak in northern Polk County were damaged by storms Tuesday evening. Polk County Emergency Management said multiple people were displaced due to the level of devastation. On the ground, KCCI reporters witnessed downed trees and power lines, shrapnel and debris scattered for hundreds of feet throughout the area, as well as roofs and walls ripped off of homes.Wind turbines folded in halfMultiple wind turbines were destroyed by the tornado as it ripped across the county. KCCI meteorologist Zane Satre said he observed at least three 250-foot towers snapped like twigs, their blades scattered across the area.Drone video shows destruction, path of Greenfield, Iowa tornadoWild video shows apparent tornado topples truck on Nevada, Iowa roadwayThis traffic camera footage shows an apparent tornado blowing across Highway 30 near Nevada in Story County. Iowa State Patrol confirms fatalities in GreenfieldThe Iowa State Patrol has confirmed multiple deaths from the Greenfield tornado and at least a dozen injuries in storms Tuesday, but it has not released specific numbers.“We do have confirmed fatalities,” Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Alex Dinkla said at a news conference Tuesday night. He said authorities were still determining the total number.More on the story Widespread damage in GreenfieldCamille Blair said the Greenfield Chamber of Commerce office where she works closed around 2 p.m. ahead of the storm, the Associated Press reports. She emerged from her home in the Adair County town of about 2,000 people to describe widespread damage and scattered debris.“There’s a pretty significant roof damage to several houses that I know will need whole new roofs,” she said. “And I can see from my house it kind of went in a straight line down the road.”Dinkla said multiple people were injured in Greenfield, but didn’t know the extent of the injuries. Adair County Hospital in town was damaged and has been evacuated, according to a Mercy One spokesperson.

    DES MOINES, Iowa —

    Tuesday’s storms produced fierce tornadoes in southwest Iowa that caused massive damage in the town of Greenfield, where authorities confirmed multiple fatalities, and toppled several wind turbines in Adams County. Another apparent tornado blew across Highway 30 in Story County, overturning a semi-truck.

    Tuesday was the second deadly outbreak of tornadoes in Iowa this spring. A western Iowa man died April 26 after a tornado hit the small town of Minden.

    Wednesday looks to be calm after the storm. It’ll be sunny and breezy in Des Moines with a high of 75 degrees, according to the latest forecast.

    Here’s a look at the damage left behind by the deadly storms:

    Northern Polk County sustains damage from tornadoes

    Homes north of Elkhart near White Oak in northern Polk County were damaged by storms Tuesday evening.

    Polk County Emergency Management said multiple people were displaced due to the level of devastation. On the ground, KCCI reporters witnessed downed trees and power lines, shrapnel and debris scattered for hundreds of feet throughout the area, as well as roofs and walls ripped off of homes.

    Wind turbines folded in half

    Multiple wind turbines were destroyed by the tornado as it ripped across the county. KCCI meteorologist Zane Satre said he observed at least three 250-foot towers snapped like twigs, their blades scattered across the area.

    Drone video shows destruction, path of Greenfield, Iowa tornado

    Wild video shows apparent tornado topples truck on Nevada, Iowa roadway

    This traffic camera footage shows an apparent tornado blowing across Highway 30 near Nevada in Story County.

    Iowa State Patrol confirms fatalities in Greenfield

    The Iowa State Patrol has confirmed multiple deaths from the Greenfield tornado and at least a dozen injuries in storms Tuesday, but it has not released specific numbers.

    “We do have confirmed fatalities,” Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Alex Dinkla said at a news conference Tuesday night. He said authorities were still determining the total number.

    More on the story

    Widespread damage in Greenfield

    Camille Blair said the Greenfield Chamber of Commerce office where she works closed around 2 p.m. ahead of the storm, the Associated Press reports. She emerged from her home in the Adair County town of about 2,000 people to describe widespread damage and scattered debris.

    “There’s a pretty significant roof damage to several houses that I know will need whole new roofs,” she said. “And I can see from my house it kind of went in a straight line down the road.”

    Dinkla said multiple people were injured in Greenfield, but didn’t know the extent of the injuries. Adair County Hospital in town was damaged and has been evacuated, according to a Mercy One spokesperson.

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  • Widespread power outages from deadly Houston storm raise new risk: hot weather

    Widespread power outages from deadly Houston storm raise new risk: hot weather

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    HOUSTON — As the Houston area works to clean up and restore power to thousands after deadly storms that left at least seven people dead, it will do so Saturday under a smog warning and as all of southern Texas starts to feel the heat.

    Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said three people died during the storm, including an 85-year-old woman whose home caught fire after being struck by lightning and a 60-year-old man who had tried to use his vehicle to power his oxygen tank.

    Houston Mayor John Whitmire previously said at least four people were killed in the city when the storms swept through Harris County, which includes Houston.

    The National Weather Service issued flood advisories and watches for parts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

    The National Weather Service in Houston warned that with temperatures hitting around 90 degrees (32.2 C) this weekend, people should know the symptoms of heat exhaustion. ”Don’t overdo yourself during the cleanup process,” it said in a post on the social platform X.

    The balmy weather is a concern in a region where more than a half-million homes and businesses remained without electricity Saturday morning — down from nearly 1 million, according to PowerOutage.us.

    Fierce storms Thursday with winds of up to 100 mph (161 kph) blew out windows downtown, while a tornado touched down near the the northwest Houston suburb of Cypress.

    Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said Friday that it could take weeks for power to be restored in some areas.

    With multiple transmission towers down, Hidalgo urged patience. Another 21,000 customers were without power in Louisiana, where strong winds and a suspected tornado hit, down from a peak of 215,000.

    The Houston Health Department said it would distribute 400 free portable air conditioners to area seniors, people with disabilities and caregivers of disabled children.

    The widespread destruction brought much of Houston to a standstill. Trees, debris and shattered glass littered the streets. One building’s brick wall was ripped off.

    School districts in the Houston area canceled classes Friday for more than 400,000 students and government offices were closed. City officials urged people to avoid downtown and stay off roads, many of which were flooded or lined with downed power lines and malfunctioning traffic lights.

    Mayor Whitmire warned that police were out in force, including state troopers sent to the area to prevent looting. He said the speed and intensity of the storm caught many off guard.

    “Most Houstonians didn’t have time to place themselves out of harm’s way,” Whitmire said at a news conference.

    Noelle Delgado pulled up Thursday night to Houston Pets Alive, the animal rescue organization where she is executive director to find the dogs and cats — more than 30 in all — were uninjured, but the awning had been ripped off, the sign was mangled and water was leaking inside. She hoped to find foster homes for the animals.

    “I could definitely tell that this storm was a little different,” she said. “It felt terrifying.”

    Yesenia Guzmán worried whether she would get paid with the power still out at the restaurant where she works in the Houston suburb of Katy.

    “We don’t really know what’s going to happen,” she said.

    Whitmire signed a disaster declaration, which paves the way for state and federal storm recovery assistance. President Joe Biden also issued a disaster declaration for seven counties in Texas, including Harris, over severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes and flooding since April 26. His action makes federal funding available to people affected by the storms.

    Emergency officials in neighboring Montgomery County described the damage to transmission lines as “catastrophic.”

    High-voltage transmission towers that were torn apart and downed power lines pose a twofold challenge for the utility company because the damage affected transmission and distribution systems, according to Alexandria von Meier, a power and energy expert who called that a rare thing. Damage to just the distribution system is more typical, von Meier said.

    How quickly repairs are made will depend on a variety of factors, including the time it takes to assess the damage, equipment replacement, roadwork access issues and workforce availability. Centerpoint Energy deployed 1,000 employees on Friday and had requested 5,000 more line workers and vegetation professionals.

    ___

    Associated Press reporters Ken Miller in Oklahoma City; Jamie Stengle in Dallas; Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas; and Lisa Baumann in Bellingham, Washington, contributed to this report.

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  • At least 4 deaths in Houston, official says, as storms bring ‘life-threatening’ flood risk to Texas and Louisiana

    At least 4 deaths in Houston, official says, as storms bring ‘life-threatening’ flood risk to Texas and Louisiana

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    At least four people are dead in Houston after hurricane-force winds and torrential rains tore a damaging path through the city Thursday – part of a lashing storm system that is bringing life-threatening flooding and power outages to parts of the South.One person appears to have been killed when a crane was toppled by strong winds and two other deaths were caused by fallen trees, according to Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña, citing preliminary information.In addition to the deaths, there has been damage to downtown skyscrapers, Mary Benton, a spokesperson for the Houston mayor’s office, told CNN.Violent storm conditions in Houston have blown out skyscraper windows, partially collapsed a nightclub and ripped a strip of roofing off the downtown Hyatt Regency, showering the hotel lobby with rain and debris, according to witness video.All non-essential workers are urged to stay home Friday and city schools are closed as widespread power outages have darkened the city and disabled traffic lights, Mayor John Whitmire said. Streets are littered with debris, downed trees and power lines, and the downtown area is dusted with glass from broken windows, he added.Major flooding has prompted water rescues in at least one Texas city. As many as 20 drivers had to be helped from rising water in Bryan, about 100 miles northwest of Houston, police said.Power outages left more than 1 million homes and businesses in the dark across the state on Thursday, with the torrential storms pounding an already-soaked South.A rare Level 4 of 4 high risk of excessive rainfall was issued for parts of eastern Texas and western Louisiana by the Weather Prediction Center Thursday. More than 600,000 people live in the high-risk zone.High risk days only happen on 4% of days each year, but account for more than 80% of all flood damage and more than a third of all flood deaths in the United States, according to the WPC. Just three other days have reached this concerning mark this year, including the most recent one nearly three weeks ago.It’s a sign the atmosphere is primed to unload extreme amounts of rain, a phenomenon that is becoming more frequent in a warming world driven by human-caused climate change.In Houston, violent storm conditions partially collapsed a nightclub building and damaged several others. Sheets of rain blew onto roadways and into the city’s Minute Maid Park as the Houston Astros prepared to play the Oakland Athletics.Major flooding has prompted water rescues in at least one city. As many as 20 drivers had to be helped from rising water in Bryan, about 100 miles northwest of Houston, police said.Widespread rainfall totals of 2 to 6 inches are expected from Texas to Georgia through Saturday morning. A few spots caught under multiple torrential storms may pick up 8 inches or more of rain. It’s not out of the question that one or two spots could record close to a foot of rain in about 48 hours.Video below: Strong winds during severe weather in Houston, Texas on ThursdayTexas and Louisiana have been in the bull’s-eye of seemingly unrelenting rounds of torrential, flooding downpours since the start of April. Rainfall in the waterlogged area over the last two weeks is over 600% of what’s typical, according to the WPC.Double-digit rainfall totals between 20 and 30 inches over the region in recent weeks have soaked the ground and left rivers swollen, priming the flood threat to extreme levels.Drenched soils are not expected to soak up any of Thursday’s rainfall, the WPC warned Thursday morning. Widespread flash flooding could begin minutes after heavy rain starts to fall.Flooding ramps up Thursday but threat persists FridayStorms, some severe, rumbled to life Thursday afternoon in parts of Texas and prompted flash flood warnings for multiple cities, including Waco. Powerful, heavy storms will push south and east and reach Louisiana and Mississippi late in the day.Nearly 10 million people are under a tornado watch until 10 p.m. CT Thursday in portions of southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana, including Houston and Lake Charles, Louisiana.A large cluster of thunderstorms moving into the region Thursday afternoon brought with it a flash flood threat from the heavy downpours in addition to the severe storm dangers in the strongest cells. A couple of tornadoes could spawn, scattered damaging wind gusts are likely to reach 70 mph and there may be isolated hail up to 2 inches in diameter.More than a million customers across Texas are without electricity as of Thursday evening – including more than 800,000 outages reported in Harris County, where Houston is located, according to PowerOutage.us. Harris County is the third-most populous in the United States.A tornado warning had been issued earlier Thursday evening in Harris County, Texas, including downtown Houston, according to the National Weather Service. The weather service also issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Houston with the highest-level “destructive” tag.At around 6:30 p.m., the weather service in Houston noted a “destructive storm” with wind gusts of up to 80 mph was over the metro area, and urged residents to take cover immediately in a post on X.Winds in the city were reported as high as 71 mph, according to the weather service. On the east side of the city, there were reports of winds up to 78 mph.Winds exceeding 74 mph are equivalent to the strength of a Category 1 hurricane.Videos shared with CNN on Thursday showed heavy rainfall and power flashes impacting Houston’s downtown area. The roof of a downtown Hyatt Regency had been partially ripped off, sending rain and debris flowing into the hotel, one witness said. Elsewhere, howling winds could be heard in the city’s Heights neighborhood.Multiple steel power transmission towers have been mangled by the storms, CNN affiliate KPRC reported. Along part of US Route 290, traffic was stopped as firefighters cleared downed lines draped over the roadway.Video below: Shoppers were stuck inside a Houston Costco during severe weather on Thursday Houston Mayor John Whitmire advised residents to stay off the roads.“The mayor and first responders are asking Houstonians to stay off the roads and avoid all unnecessary travel. Many roads are impassible due to downed power lines, debris, and fallen trees,” the mayor’s office said in a statement Thursday evening. “There are significant power outages and reports of damage across the city. We are working with Centerpoint, METRO and other regional partners to keep everyone safe.”Rainfall rates up to 3 inches per hour are possible in the heaviest storms, which could lead to life-threatening flash flooding, according to the WPC. Damaging winds, hail and a couple of tornadoes are also possible.The greatest flooding danger will come as storms train later Thursday. Training storms track through and deluge the same areas over and over, like a train pulling its cars over the same stretch of track.Serious flash flooding is likely in any areas caught under multiple storms unloading 2 to 3 inches of rain per hour. Roadways may quickly become rivers and small streams could easily overflow their banks.More than 35 million people in the South are under a Level 2 of 4 or Level 3 of 4 risk of excessive rainfall Thursday. Many areas may only endure one torrential storm, but even brief downpours will be enough to cause flooding problems given how wet the South has been recently.Soaking storms will shift east on Friday and target more of the Gulf Coast.Significant portions of Mississippi and Alabama are under a Level 3 of 4 risk of excessive rainfall on Friday. A larger area from the Texas/Louisiana border to Georgia and the Florida Panhandle is under a Level 2 of 4 risk.Drenching storms from Thursday night will likely last into Friday morning for parts of the Gulf Coast. An initial round of flash flooding is likely in the first half of Friday before rain starts to taper off in the afternoon.Another bout of heavy rain will develop Friday night and continue into the earliest hours of Saturday morning, working over the same areas hit earlier in the day. These storms could produce rainfall rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour, and quickly restart or worsen any ongoing flooding.Extremely wet start to the yearThe rain will only add to already extreme rainfall totals in what’s been one of the wettest years to date on record across the Gulf Coast.Some Southeast cities have recorded more than half a foot of rain above what’s typical for the first several months of the year.Several dozen cities from Texas to western Georgia are pacing at a top 5 wettest year to date and at least two cities in eastern Texas are experiencing their wettest year, according to the Southeast Regional Climate Center. Dallas is experiencing its third-wettest year to date while Shreveport, Louisiana, is amid its second wettest.Excessive rainfall has largely eliminated dryness and drought conditions along the Gulf Coast, but it hasn’t come without a cost.Earlier this month, nearly 2 feet of rain fell in just five days and sent parts of eastern Texas underwater. Hundreds of people and animals were rescued from flooding as some area rivers rose to levels not reached since Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

    At least four people are dead in Houston after hurricane-force winds and torrential rains tore a damaging path through the city Thursday – part of a lashing storm system that is bringing life-threatening flooding and power outages to parts of the South.

    One person appears to have been killed when a crane was toppled by strong winds and two other deaths were caused by fallen trees, according to Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña, citing preliminary information.

    In addition to the deaths, there has been damage to downtown skyscrapers, Mary Benton, a spokesperson for the Houston mayor’s office, told CNN.

    Violent storm conditions in Houston have blown out skyscraper windows, partially collapsed a nightclub and ripped a strip of roofing off the downtown Hyatt Regency, showering the hotel lobby with rain and debris, according to witness video.

    All non-essential workers are urged to stay home Friday and city schools are closed as widespread power outages have darkened the city and disabled traffic lights, Mayor John Whitmire said. Streets are littered with debris, downed trees and power lines, and the downtown area is dusted with glass from broken windows, he added.

    Major flooding has prompted water rescues in at least one Texas city. As many as 20 drivers had to be helped from rising water in Bryan, about 100 miles northwest of Houston, police said.

    Power outages left more than 1 million homes and businesses in the dark across the state on Thursday, with the torrential storms pounding an already-soaked South.

    A rare Level 4 of 4 high risk of excessive rainfall was issued for parts of eastern Texas and western Louisiana by the Weather Prediction Center Thursday. More than 600,000 people live in the high-risk zone.

    High risk days only happen on 4% of days each year, but account for more than 80% of all flood damage and more than a third of all flood deaths in the United States, according to the WPC. Just three other days have reached this concerning mark this year, including the most recent one nearly three weeks ago.

    It’s a sign the atmosphere is primed to unload extreme amounts of rain, a phenomenon that is becoming more frequent in a warming world driven by human-caused climate change.

    In Houston, violent storm conditions partially collapsed a nightclub building and damaged several others. Sheets of rain blew onto roadways and into the city’s Minute Maid Park as the Houston Astros prepared to play the Oakland Athletics.

    Major flooding has prompted water rescues in at least one city. As many as 20 drivers had to be helped from rising water in Bryan, about 100 miles northwest of Houston, police said.

    Widespread rainfall totals of 2 to 6 inches are expected from Texas to Georgia through Saturday morning. A few spots caught under multiple torrential storms may pick up 8 inches or more of rain. It’s not out of the question that one or two spots could record close to a foot of rain in about 48 hours.

    Video below: Strong winds during severe weather in Houston, Texas on Thursday

    Texas and Louisiana have been in the bull’s-eye of seemingly unrelenting rounds of torrential, flooding downpours since the start of April. Rainfall in the waterlogged area over the last two weeks is over 600% of what’s typical, according to the WPC.

    Double-digit rainfall totals between 20 and 30 inches over the region in recent weeks have soaked the ground and left rivers swollen, priming the flood threat to extreme levels.

    Drenched soils are not expected to soak up any of Thursday’s rainfall, the WPC warned Thursday morning. Widespread flash flooding could begin minutes after heavy rain starts to fall.

    Flooding ramps up Thursday but threat persists Friday

    Storms, some severe, rumbled to life Thursday afternoon in parts of Texas and prompted flash flood warnings for multiple cities, including Waco. Powerful, heavy storms will push south and east and reach Louisiana and Mississippi late in the day.

    Nearly 10 million people are under a tornado watch until 10 p.m. CT Thursday in portions of southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana, including Houston and Lake Charles, Louisiana.

    A large cluster of thunderstorms moving into the region Thursday afternoon brought with it a flash flood threat from the heavy downpours in addition to the severe storm dangers in the strongest cells. A couple of tornadoes could spawn, scattered damaging wind gusts are likely to reach 70 mph and there may be isolated hail up to 2 inches in diameter.

    More than a million customers across Texas are without electricity as of Thursday evening – including more than 800,000 outages reported in Harris County, where Houston is located, according to PowerOutage.us. Harris County is the third-most populous in the United States.

    A tornado warning had been issued earlier Thursday evening in Harris County, Texas, including downtown Houston, according to the National Weather Service. The weather service also issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Houston with the highest-level “destructive” tag.

    At around 6:30 p.m., the weather service in Houston noted a “destructive storm” with wind gusts of up to 80 mph was over the metro area, and urged residents to take cover immediately in a post on X.

    Winds in the city were reported as high as 71 mph, according to the weather service. On the east side of the city, there were reports of winds up to 78 mph.

    Winds exceeding 74 mph are equivalent to the strength of a Category 1 hurricane.

    Videos shared with CNN on Thursday showed heavy rainfall and power flashes impacting Houston’s downtown area. The roof of a downtown Hyatt Regency had been partially ripped off, sending rain and debris flowing into the hotel, one witness said. Elsewhere, howling winds could be heard in the city’s Heights neighborhood.

    Multiple steel power transmission towers have been mangled by the storms, CNN affiliate KPRC reported. Along part of US Route 290, traffic was stopped as firefighters cleared downed lines draped over the roadway.

    Video below: Shoppers were stuck inside a Houston Costco during severe weather on Thursday

    Houston Mayor John Whitmire advised residents to stay off the roads.

    “The mayor and first responders are asking Houstonians to stay off the roads and avoid all unnecessary travel. Many roads are impassible due to downed power lines, debris, and fallen trees,” the mayor’s office said in a statement Thursday evening. “There are significant power outages and reports of damage across the city. We are working with Centerpoint, METRO and other regional partners to keep everyone safe.”

    Rainfall rates up to 3 inches per hour are possible in the heaviest storms, which could lead to life-threatening flash flooding, according to the WPC. Damaging winds, hail and a couple of tornadoes are also possible.

    The greatest flooding danger will come as storms train later Thursday. Training storms track through and deluge the same areas over and over, like a train pulling its cars over the same stretch of track.

    Serious flash flooding is likely in any areas caught under multiple storms unloading 2 to 3 inches of rain per hour. Roadways may quickly become rivers and small streams could easily overflow their banks.

    More than 35 million people in the South are under a Level 2 of 4 or Level 3 of 4 risk of excessive rainfall Thursday. Many areas may only endure one torrential storm, but even brief downpours will be enough to cause flooding problems given how wet the South has been recently.

    Soaking storms will shift east on Friday and target more of the Gulf Coast.

    Significant portions of Mississippi and Alabama are under a Level 3 of 4 risk of excessive rainfall on Friday. A larger area from the Texas/Louisiana border to Georgia and the Florida Panhandle is under a Level 2 of 4 risk.

    Drenching storms from Thursday night will likely last into Friday morning for parts of the Gulf Coast. An initial round of flash flooding is likely in the first half of Friday before rain starts to taper off in the afternoon.

    Another bout of heavy rain will develop Friday night and continue into the earliest hours of Saturday morning, working over the same areas hit earlier in the day. These storms could produce rainfall rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour, and quickly restart or worsen any ongoing flooding.

    Extremely wet start to the year

    The rain will only add to already extreme rainfall totals in what’s been one of the wettest years to date on record across the Gulf Coast.

    Some Southeast cities have recorded more than half a foot of rain above what’s typical for the first several months of the year.

    Several dozen cities from Texas to western Georgia are pacing at a top 5 wettest year to date and at least two cities in eastern Texas are experiencing their wettest year, according to the Southeast Regional Climate Center. Dallas is experiencing its third-wettest year to date while Shreveport, Louisiana, is amid its second wettest.

    Excessive rainfall has largely eliminated dryness and drought conditions along the Gulf Coast, but it hasn’t come without a cost.

    Earlier this month, nearly 2 feet of rain fell in just five days and sent parts of eastern Texas underwater. Hundreds of people and animals were rescued from flooding as some area rivers rose to levels not reached since Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

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  • Northern Lights Gallery

    Northern Lights Gallery

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    People view the northern lights, or aurora borealis, as they glow over Lake Washington, in Renton, Wash., on Friday evening, May 10, 2024. Brilliant purple, green, yellow and pink hues of the Northern Lights were reported worldwide, with sightings in Germany, Switzerland, London, and the United States and Canada. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

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