More rounds of rain and thunderstorms are expected across Missouri through Tuesday, increasing the risk of flooding across much of the state’s central and southern regions.
A Flood Watch is in effect Monday afternoon for communities including Sedalia, Columbia, Jefferson City, the Lake of the Ozarks region, Rolla, Springfield, Branson, and Joplin.
Meteorologist Ben Price with the National Weather Service in Springfield said some areas have already seen significant rainfall, especially in southwest Missouri.
“Particularly down in the Joplin areas where there’s a thunderstorm complex moving through that’s been putting down about upwards of three to six inches so far,” Price said. “In the Columbia area, there’s that flood warning out and that’s a river flood warning mainly for rising waters.”
That river flood warning remains in effect through Tuesday afternoon along the Missouri River, stretching from eastern Jackson County to just south of Columbia.
Price said the concern doesn’t end when the rain stops, because water continues to move through rivers and other waterways after storms pass.
“That rain from the storms run off into the basins and then just collect into the rivers and all that takes time for that to wash through,” Price said. “Whereas flash flooding happens pretty quickly from high rain rates and just repeated storms, all that water that starts running off into those rivers can flow over roadways and that flowing water makes it more life threatening.”
Looking ahead, Price added that additional rain is possible before conditions begin to improve midweek.
“We should be dry, but it’ll still feel pretty moist out there,” Price said. “We’re going to have pretty high dew points, and we’ll have heat index values in the hundreds Tuesday and Wednesday. But then after that, we’re looking at more rain chances going into the weekend.”
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