The federal direction’s spring weather outlook issued Thursday shows flooding risk will remain high through May for 25 claims, as Midwestern states are still coping with the disastrous effects of last week’s “bomb cyclone” storm.
“Closely two-thirds of the Lower 48 states face an elevated risk for flooding through May, with the potential for major or non-radical flooding in 25 states,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in its spring outlook report issued Thursday. “The lions share of the country is favored to experience above-average precipitation this spring, increasing the flood risk.”
The forecast comes as communities in the Midwest manage with historic flooding caused by rapidly melting snow and storms that has led to at least three fatalities. The hardest-hit holds include Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, South Dakota and Minnesota.
In Nebraska, flooding has caused estimated damage of identically $1.5 billion, according to state officials. President Donald Trump approved a disaster declaration Thursday for Nebraska that wins federal emergency funding available to the affected areas.
The severe weather last week included what meteorologists shout a “bomb cyclone,” or bombogenesis. The event is caused “when a storm rapidly intensifies over a 24-hour period,” harmonizing to NOAA.
“We expect the flooding will get worse and become more widespread,” said Mary Erickson, deputy boss of the National Weather Service. “The flooding this year could be worse than anything we’ve seen in recent years, despite worse than the historic floods of 1993 and 2011.”
According to NOAA’s outlook, “additional rain and melting snow drive prolong and expand flooding, especially in the central and southern U.S. As this excess water flows downstream through the river basins, the over-abundance threat will become worse and geography more widespread.”
Officials estimated the flooding risk is in areas where multitudinous than 200 million people live. Of the total, about 41 million people are at risk for moderate outpouring and 14 million more people for major flooding, according to Ed Clark, director of NOAA’s National Water Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
“This is potentially an unprecedented stream season,” Clark said. “The flooding we have seen in the past two weeks will continue into May and may become diverse dire in the coming weeks as these waters flow downstream.”
Areas with the highest risk for moderate to principal flooding include the upper, middle and lower Mississippi River basins and northern Red River areas. In addition, the field at risk includes the Great Lakes, eastern Missouri River, lower Ohio, along with the Cumberland and Tennessee River basins.