Parts of the Southeast faced dangerous flash flooding on Saturday as a severe weather system rolled across the country, also threatening heavy snowfall in the Upper Midwest and New England.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued an alert early Saturday, highlighting the likelihood of severe flash floods in the Ohio and Tennessee valleys, especially across parts of Kentucky and Tennessee. Approximately 20 million people were under some form of flood warning, ranging from Arkansas to Pennsylvania.
The most significant concern for life-threatening flash floods was northwest Tennessee and western Kentucky, where a High Risk of Excessive Rainfall was declared.
Throughout the day, intense thunderstorms were anticipated to sweep the area, potentially dropping up to 6 inches of rain, with localized totals reaching 8 inches. These storms were expected to persist into the early hours of Sunday.
By Saturday afternoon, regions in Tennessee and Kentucky were already experiencing flash flooding with over 4 to 5 inches of rain recorded. This situation led to several road closures due to the rising water.
In a statement, Joe Pitts, Mayor of Clarksville, Tennessee, described “alarming scenes of flash flooding” across Clarksville and nearby areas after 4 inches of rain already saturated the region, with an additional 1 to 2 inches expected into the evening. As part of the preparations, local officials deployed around 1,000 sandbags and set up barricades in flood-prone areas.
Severe storms were expected overnight, according to the NWS in Nashville, which had also issued flash flood warnings for parts of the state.
Meanwhile, the NWS in Blacksburg, Virginia, extended a flash flood warning until 10:45 p.m. Saturday after the area saw between 1 to 3 inches of rain, causing flooding in cities like Roanoke and Salem.
PowerOutage.us reported that as of 10:30 p.m. ET, nearly 20,000 residents in Virginia and about 10,000 in Kentucky were without power.
Social media was flooded with images and videos, such as a post from Gray, Kentucky, showing floodwaters washing over a yard and nearing a home, and another from Cottontown, Tennessee, depicting a submerged highway.
Besides the flooding, the NWS also warned of the potential for thunderstorms and powerful tornadoes in the lower Mississippi Valley, along with destructive wind gusts up to 70 mph and hail.
Roughly 20 million people faced severe weather risks stretching from eastern Texas to Georgia, including cities like Memphis, Nashville, Montgomery, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans.
According to the NWS in Birmingham, severe storms including tornadoes and damaging winds were expected to begin at 10 p.m. and potentially linger till 5 a.m. on Sunday. Tornado watches were in effect for parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas until 10 p.m. local time, as per the NWS in Jackson, Mississippi.
By 10:30 p.m. ET, more than 8,000 people in Louisiana reported they had lost power.
A broad area of rain and thunderstorms was forecasted to continue over the mid-Atlantic and Southeast through the weekend, with sporadic heavy precipitation and flash flooding risks.
Turning to the north, moderate to heavy snowfall was predicted from the Upper Midwest through the Great Lakes into New England, with the heaviest falls anticipated in Michigan, parts of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Maine, potentially accumulating over a foot of snow.
On Saturday, about 70 million people found themselves under winter weather alerts from Nebraska to Maine. By around 2 p.m., some areas in Nebraska, Iowa, and Michigan had already received up to 7 inches of snow.
As the snow pushed into the Great Lakes and the Northeast by Saturday night, cities like New York and Philadelphia could expect a transition from snow to a wintry mix and later to rain as a warm front advanced.
The highest snowfall totals were set to hit New England, with some areas projected to receive 12 to 18 inches by Sunday.
Across much of the Northeast, sleet and freezing rain were expected to create challenging travel conditions.
The Weather Prediction Center of the NWS highlighted significant concerns about ice accumulations in the interior Northeast, warning that the icing might be enough to cause power outages.
The storm was set to intensify in the Northeast late Saturday into Sunday, with strong winds potentially leading to blowing snow and difficult travel conditions.
Looking ahead to early next week, forecasts indicated the rain and snow would clear off the East Coast, but brisk winds would likely keep cold air entrenched over much of the eastern United States.
About 76 million people were under wind alerts as the week began, in areas including Jacksonville, Asheville, New York City, Boston, and Washington, D.C., where gusts could reach 40 to 60 mph.
