While some are enjoying the first days of spring and a much more stable weather, people throughout southeast Texas north through the western Missouri are in for a different treat. Monday’s forecast brought at least one tornado and overall bad weather that ravaged the San Antonio area. For Tuesday, the National Weather Service brings bitter news.
Monday night was the peak of the bad weather. The National Weather Service reported that a tornado hit the San Antonio area, touching the ground at about 25 miles. Joined by thunderstorms and rain, the bad weather of Monday night completely ruined about 50 homes. With winds gusting at over 60 mph, the storm wrecked affected areas, caused injuries but so far authorities did not report any deaths.
The Dallas – Fort Worth International Airport had to temporarily reroute flights about to land. Some routes were delayed for about three hours, until the strong winds and rain stopped. People living in Oklahoma City, Tulsa County and Dallas – Fort Worth lost power.
The bad weather is expected to keep on at it all through this week. Kansas climatologist Mary Knapp stated: “We’re looking at maybe a week of rain in that part of the state [southern Kansas]. That would be a very, very nice start to our spring season”.
However, the expected precipitations have a high risk of generating floods. For the southern Kansas area climatologists expect eight inches of rain after a season that has already started unusually dry. But, officials in charge of emergency services say that southern Kansas should take the amount of rain without any problems.
Officials aren’t so confident about Arkansas however. They’ve already put team s in place to react in case of flash floods, which are likely to occur in the west. Even flatlands are at risk to develop a flash flood.
B.J. Simpson, meteorologist with the National Weather Service, explained: “When rain falls in those terrain areas it’s quickly funneled into small rivers and streams. Those are the most dangerous areas”.
Two years ago, twenty persons died after being caught in a flash flood. So, take B.J. Simpson’s word of advice and remember that “there’s really no amount of dry ground that can take up to 10 inches of rain in a couple day timeframe”.
