NEBRASKA CITY – Southeast Nebraska, southwest Iowa and northwest Missouri are already seeing localized flooding Wednesday afternoon, according to meteorologists with the WeatherEye Weather Center.
With flood warnings in effect for multiple counties across the area, and southwest Iowa placed in a flash flood warning, Meteorologist Ray Miller expects flooding to become more widespread Wednesday night into Thursday.
“We are looking at localized street flooding as the rain continues and the snow cover melts off. We’re also going to be seeing the (Missouri) river rising as we’ll some of that water continuing to flow into the river. All the usual spots that have flooding troubles will likely have flooding concerns again as we go through the next 24 hours or so.”
Several streams and rivers, including the Missouri River, have been placed in a flood warning until Saturday. A flood watch continues for the region until Thursday night.
Impressive satellite view of the strong low pressure system moving toward our area #news #iawx pic.twitter.com/6t5Imfh32R
— NWS Omaha (@NWSOmaha) March 13, 2019
Miller expects to see additional rainfall of a tenth of an inch Wednesday night, but heavier amounts will be possible with thunderstorms. Showers and thunderstorms are forecast to continue into Thursday with another quarter of an inch of rain possible, according to Miller.
The warmer temperatures over the remaining snow pack will create more dense fog across the region Wednesday night into Thursday morning. Dense fog Tuesday night resulted in several crashes throughout the area.
Just like when we’re dealing with a winter storm, Miller says to allow extra time when traveling during the storm event just in case you have to find a different route.
“The simplest guideline is if there’s water over the roadway, don’t attempt to cross. If you’re not going to be able to tell how deep it is and it takes very little water to float a car. In fact, most flooding deaths occur in vehicles. We really advise you, if you can’t see the markings on the pavement, that’s usually kind of a guideline to how deep the water is. if you can’t see the markings on the pavement, it’s too deep to try and cross.”
News Channel Nebraska television is bringing viewers continuing coverage of flooding in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa, as well as coverage of a blizzard burying the Nebraska panhandle in one to two feet of snow.
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