AccuWeather.com

By Heather Buchman, Meteorologist

Jul 9, 2010; 8:11 AM ET

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Flooding in the Laredo, Texas-Nuevo Laredo, Mexico areas Wednesday, July 7 and Thursday, July 8, 2010 due to release of water from upstream dams, caused by excessive runoff from Hurricane Alex. Image courtesy of AccuWeather.com User osd4815.

Flooding problems have progressively become more widespread and significant across the Plains throughout this week as heavy showers and thunderstorms have been repeatedly dousing the same areas from Texas to Missouri and Iowa.

With the ground already saturated across these states, any additional rain that falls through the weekend will easily cause more flooding woes. More rain is expected from southern Oklahoma into Texas through Sunday, while areas farther north dry out by Saturday.

Significant Flooding Thursday

Thursday, portions of metropolitan areas such as Victoria and Amarillo, Texas, and Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Okla., fell victim to flood waters.

In Oklahoma, there were numerous cases of flash flooding across southwestern sections of Oklahoma City by Thursday evening with road closures and high water rescues resulting. According to The Oklahoman, a teenage girl drowned after being swept away by flood waters in Durant.

In Tulsa, flood waters engulfed streets and caused cars to stall late Thursday. Street flooding and high water rescues also ensued in communities across central and southern Missouri Thursday night into Friday morning.

Heavy thunderstorms that hit Victoria Thursday afternoon reportedly sent water rising near the doorsteps of homes and blew out manhole covers.

In Amarillo, more than 7 inches of rain fell Wednesday night into Thursday, resulting in flooding of streets, highways and buildings. The basement of the Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport reportedly became flooded to the top early Thursday morning with up to a foot of standing water on the first floor. Nearly 4 feet of standing water was reported in a school.

Culprit Behind the Flooding

It's been an interaction between a stalled front and abundant tropical moisture that has caused the flooding across the Plains this week.

Tropical moisture associated with Hurricane Alex started surging northward across the Plains over the 4th of July weekend, while a front became nearly stationary from Texas into Iowa. Since then, tropical moisture, some associated with Tropical Depression 2, has continued streaming northward through the Plains, while the front has remain stalled for the most part.

This front has been serving as a trigger for shower and thunderstorm development on a daily basis, bringing repeated rounds of rain to the same areas throughout the week. The large supply of tropical moisture has only made matters worse by providing plenty of fuel for these showers and thunderstorms to become heavy.

Areas at Risk into the Weekend

A change in the overall weather pattern across the nation is finally allowing the front and its associated showers and thunderstorms to get moving. The northern section of the front will push through the Northeast and mid-Atlantic this weekend, bringing much-needed rain and heat relief to the region.

The southern fringe of the front, however, will remain slow-moving across the southern Plains. It will gradually sink south of Missouri tonight and stall again near the Oklahoma-Texas and Arkansas-Louisiana borders Saturday.

While places such as Amarillo, Tulsa and Oklahoma City dry out, areas farther south toward the front will remain stormy. The showers and thunderstorms are not expected to be as heavy this weekend as they've been the last few days. However, since the ground already saturated in many areas, it will not take much additional rainfall to cause flooding in a few areas.

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