3.18.2008 7:35 AM

Deluge May Flood 13 States

Tornadoes and Two Months' Worth of Rain

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Map showing severe weather watches for March 18, 2008.

This map shows severe weather watches and warnings for Tuesday, including flood-related warnings across the Midwest, and tornado warnings in Texas.

Photo: National Weather Service

By Dan Shapley

A broad swath of the nation, including 13 Midwestern states, could experience dramatic flooding today as two months' worth of rain could fall in the space of days, as the Chicago Tribune put it.

Tornadoes are expected in Texas, a day after several associated with the same storm system touched down in Texas and Arkansas.

"Flooding rains associated with the Heartland's wettest storm of 2008 ... threaten to drench Downstate Missouri, Illinois and Indiana with a vengeance Tuesday into Wednesday, unleashing as much rain as falls in two months – only doing it in just days," the Chicago Tribune reports. "It's a formula for producing major flooding. Thirteen states from Texas to Ohio were under flood watches late Monday and the hardest-hit areas of Missouri and Illinois could see rain tallies of 5 to 7 inches by midweek."

"The combination today of heavy rain, already saturated soil, and swollen rivers will increase the flood threat in the Midwest," according to Accuweather.com. "The greatest flood threat will develop from eastern Iowa to northwestern Illinois."

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