Flooding rainfall, severe weather to target southern US into Tuesday

The threat for flash flooding and localized severe thunderstorms will expand across the southern United States into Tuesday. The severe weather threat includes the risk of tornadoes.

Abundant moisture from the Gulf of Mexico will continue to fuel bouts of significant rainfall from Texas to the Carolinas.

Galveston, Texas, set a new record for the wettest December day on Saturday, when 7.68 inches of rain fell. This shattered the previous record of 6.30 inches set on Dec. 17, 1995.

Heavy rain caused street flooding and road closures in parts of southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana.

Additional bursts of rain will track over the South and threaten even more communities with flash flooding and road closures.

“The ground is already saturated and some creeks and streams are rather full,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Michael Doll said. “Runoff will cause water levels to rise even more.”

Drenching rain will expand from Louisiana to the southern Appalachians and the northeastern Gulf coast through Tuesday.

The stormy weather will put a sizable dent in the precipitation deficits across the region.

The city of Atlanta received only 77 percent of their average rainfall from Jan. 1 to Dec. 1, 2016.

The rain will once again soak Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Though rain will be beneficial for extreme drought areas and help to extinguish hot spots from prior wildfires, it can be a double-edged sword.

Fallen leaves and brush absorb a significant amount of rainfall. Land that has been recently burned by wildfires will be extremely susceptible to flash flooding and mudslides.

Motorists should watch for water collecting on roadways and be prepared to reroute if a flooded or closed road is encountered.

Damaging thunderstorms can erupt amid the flooding downpours.

Damaging wind gusts will be the primary threat across the Gulf Coast states, but a few tornadoes threaten to spin up.

“A dangerous situation could unfold Monday night in the Deep South due to the risk of tornadoes,” Doll said.

“If you live in southeastern Louisiana, southern Mississippi, southern Alabama or the Florida Panhandle, be sure to have a means to get weather warnings before going to bed,” Doll said, adding that one such means is a weather radio.

This includes New Orleans; Biloxi, Mississippi; Montgomery and Mobile, Alabama and Pensacola, Florida.

There will be a risk of strong to locally severe thunderstorms in southeastern Georgia during Tuesday morning and midday.

Drier conditions will sweep across the region from west to east on Tuesday, before more rain and a blast of cold air moves in later this week.

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