Extreme Weather 2020: Flash Flooding, Smaller Tornadoes Forecast For Southeastern US

KEY POINTS

The storm front that left six people dead across Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana continued pushing eastward toward the U.S. coastline
Flash flood watches were issued in South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi, with some tornado watches in effect in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida
The storm is forecast to settle over Florida heading into the weekend with more storms across northern and central parts of the state

A storm front that left a trail of death and widespread damage in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana pushed towoard the East Coast Thursday, threating severe weather in Alabama and Georgia where heavy rains and high winds were reported.

Six people died in Wednesday's storms.

South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi issued flash flood watches. Tornado watches also were in effect for parts of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi, and are expected to extend through Friday.

“Once again, all forms of severe weather can occur with the event ranging from damaging wind gusts and hail to frequent lightning strikes and tornadoes into Thursday evening,” meteorologist Brett Edwards told Accuweather.

Florida is in line to face the brunt of the storms Friday as the front is forecast to settle over parts of northern and central Florida. While severe storms are expected to be the main cause of any damage or flooding in the state, there is still the possibility a tornado or waterspout.

“The main threats from the storms on Friday will be for strong wind gusts and blinding, torrential downpours,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Randy Adkins said.

Despite the severe weather, warm moisture from the Gulf of Mexico may help prevent the formation of supercell thunderstorms and further weaken the storm front going into Friday. This would spare Florida and surrounding states from the supercell storms that began Wednesday in Texas and ripped through several states.