Elevated flash flood threats were issued for parts of the Midwest and Southwest late Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday, potentially impacting millions of residents from Illinois to Texas and Arizona.
A level 2 of 4 threat is in place for widespread areas stretching from the Texas Panhandle to central Indiana. This includes major metropolitan areas such as Kansas City, Missouri, Peoria, Illinois, and Wichita, Kansas.
St. Joseph County, Missouri, located north of Kansas City, is under a more severe level 3 of 4 flood threat. Storms in this region were expected to begin late Tuesday afternoon and potentially continue through the overnight hours. Some areas, particularly northeastern Kansas and northern Missouri, could receive between 4 to 6 inches of rainfall by Wednesday morning.
The heavy rainfall is forecast to cause a level 2 of 4 flood threat on Wednesday for areas extending from St. Joseph County, Missouri, to Chicago.
In the Southwest, a level 2 of 4 flood threat is active for parts of Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, and Utah. Cities such as Tucson, Arizona; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Cedar City, Utah, are among those within the threatened zones. This flood threat in the Southwest is anticipated to persist through at least Thursday.
These widespread flood watches follow severe thunderstorms that impacted the plains on Monday night. Damaging wind gusts, ranging between 70 and 83 miles per hour, downed power lines and trees across Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska. Thunderstorms on Monday also brought heavy rain and strong wind gusts to Tucson, Arizona, leading to water rescues.