Flooding could impact more than 88 million as severe storms threaten multiple states

Flooding could impact more than 88 million people across the middle of the country this week, forecasts show, as severe weather threatens multiple U.S. states in the Midwest and northern Plains. 

About two dozen flash floods have been reported Monday across Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, according to CBS News meteorologist Nikki Nolan.

Flood watches remained in effect until Tuesday morning for large swaths of the Midwest, including much of Missouri and Illinois, with some extending farther south through Tennessee and into northern Alabama and Georgia. The watches, which are issued when weather conditions mean flooding is possible but not necessarily guaranteed, affect about 20 million people.

The severe weather threat to major cities in Kansas, like Topeka and Salina, is expected to last through Thursday, according to NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center.

Storms across the central Plains could also potentially produce “very large hail, severe wind gusts, and a few tornadoes,” while heavy rain posed risks of flash flooding across sections of the Mississippi, Tennessee and Ohio Valleys, the National Weather Service said. Forecasters have predicted rainfall of up to 8 inches in some areas.

Forecasters also warned that excessive rain over parts of Tennessee and Alabama would continue to carry the potential for “considerable and life-threatening flooding” through Monday evening, after as much as 9 inches of rain drenched the region on Sunday. Rushing water triggered a flash flood emergency near Huntsville, Alabama, where video footage captured vehicles partially submerged on a street. The flooding left some drivers stranded.

This week’s storms come on the heels of others that already brought heavy rain and strong winds to parts of the country over the weekend, leading to at least one death in New York City.

Parts of the South were affected, too. In Texas’ Milam County, about an hour outside of Austin, torrential downpours caused vehicles to slide off of local roads on Saturday and prompted multiple water rescues. In Slidell, Louisiana, up to 6 inches of rain fell in less than 12 hours, which also caused flash flooding.

As the weekend storms pounded northeastern states like Pennsylvania and New York, Pittsburgh resident Tim Broadwater told “CBS Mornings” that ferocious wind gusts shook his home so violently that it was knocked off of the cement blocks that previously held it upright. 

“I was scared to death,” Broadwater said. “I thought I was going to end up in the creek.”

In New York City, officials said an 85-year-old man was struck and killed by a falling tree in Queens. In Brooklyn, where wind gusts reached 64 mph, video showed furniture tumbling across the deck of a rooftop pool. The city’s Parks and Recreation Department said the storms downed more than 250 trees across the city. 

Another dramatic scene from West Virginia showed wind blowing a tent across a lawn, and dragging several people along with it, during a college basketball game between West Virginia University and Cal Poly.