Much of the Deep South and Gulf Coast have been flooded by torrential rain over the past several weeks, followed by Tropical Storm Claudette last weekend.
Additional periods of downpours will develop the rest of the week as a frontal boundary stalls across the region.
Related: Deadly Tropical Storm Claudette soon heading out to sea
The National Weather Service has issued flash flood watches for southern portions of Louisiana (New Orleans and Baton Rouge), Mississippi (Biloxi, Gulfport and Pascagoula), Alabama (Mobile) and Georgia (Thomasville and Vidalia), as well as the Florida Panhandle (Pensacola, Panama City, Apalachicola and Tallahassee).
These areas will be most prone to flooding because the ground is saturated and waterways are already swollen. It won’t take much rain to trigger runoff, which could cause more flash floods, possibly leading to ramp and road closures along Interstate 10, U.S. Highway 90 and U.S. Highway 98. Areas that get stuck under the heaviest downpours could see up to 3 inches of rain in just a couple of hours or so. Other parts of the region could also see flash flooding, but the odds are higher in the watch areas.
The threat for flooding may last through Friday, possibly stretching into the weekend. Even though the frontal boundary may weaken by the weekend, persistent wind flow off the Gulf of Mexico will keep the air very humid. Daytime heating will spark scattered thunderstorms, which could dump heavy rain in some places.
Click here for more FreightWaves articles by Nick Austin.
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