Severe weather underway as 2-day life-threatening flood threat hits the Plains

(NEW YORK) — Severe weather continues to impact the Midwest on Tuesday as intense storms are affecting millions of people.

The atmosphere did not recover well from Monday morning’s severe weather in the region, enabling the storm line to roll through in the later afternoon and evening as millions were impacted by intense weather events.

There were two reported tornadoes, one near Kenyon, Minnesota, where a farm suffered damage, and one near Fall Creek, Wisconsin, where structure damage was also recorded, though no injuries reported.

Other reports include a roof blown off a shed near Morristown, Minnesota, and roof damage to a large commercial warehouse near Kenyon — both of which may be related to the Kenyon but has not yet been fully confirmed.

Ten states reported storm damage from hail, wind and tornadoes, from Texas all the way to the upper peninsula of Michigan.

Elsewhere, hail up to the size of baseballs was reported in parts of Kansas, and hail larger than a baseball was reported in Oklahoma.

Severe storms are still underway on Tuesday morning in northern Texas and Oklahoma as golf ball-sized hail has already been reported early Tuesday in Oklahoma amid numerous severe thunderstorm warnings.

Meanwhile, a severe thunderstorm watch has been issued for northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas until 10 a.m. CT.

More than 50 million Americans are in today’s storm zone stretching 14 states from Texas to New York as super cellular storms are expected to begin around 3 p.m. CT along this entire path and continue into the evening hours.

There are two areas of heightened severe potential — an enhanced risk from west Texas to southwest Oklahoma including Midland, Lubbock and Wichita Falls in Texas — and the other from Louisville, Kentucky to near Watertown, New York, encompassing Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland and Buffalo, though the severe threat is not expected to continue past midnight for the northeastern portion of this system.

However, in Texas and Oklahoma, the severe threat may linger into the early morning hours of Wednesday with the severe potential including severe wind gusts, large to very large hail and a few tornadoes.

Flash flooding could also be a major concern for the Texas and Oklahoma portion of this event.

Given the scenario expected to play out starting Tuesday afternoon and overnight into Wednesday, which includes multiple rounds of very heavy and hours-long thunderstorms over the same consecutive locations, widespread flash flooding is expected.

However, because the ground in this area is already saturated from weekend flooding, this is an even more dire forecast and is primed for numerous potentially life-threatening flash floods.

The topsoil is already full, and streams are already high, meaning the water will have nowhere to go but stay above ground, and it may flood areas that don’t usually see flooding.

On Wednesday, the moderate risk will slide just east, extending from north of Dallas to Branson, Missouri, where there is also a chance for those heavy storms to produce damaging wind, large hail and a few tornadoes.

Meanwhile, a flood watch is in effect from north Texas to central Missouri for more than 6 million Americans across five states until Thursday morning and some areas could see more than 5 inches of rain in a 12-hour period.