Flooding, severe storms soak Texas as 73M people prepare to travel for Thanksgiving

A line of thunderstorms blasted through North Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas early Monday morning, bringing wind gusts and heavy rain to the Interstate 20 and Interstate 35 corridors, as an estimated 73 million people began to travel for the Thanksgiving holiday.More severe storms are expected to threaten early Thanksgiving flights in these same areas on Monday afternoon, as storms begin to shift east.A broad low-level flash flood threat stretches from Austin to Nashville, Tennessee.This same weather system delivered powerful severe weather to West Texas, including a supercell thunderstorm in Grandfalls, Texas, on Sunday afternoon.Supercells are thunderstorms that have the power to produce damaging winds, large hail, and tornadoes.More than 485 flights were delayed into or out of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on Sunday, according to aviation-tracking company FlightAware.A second round of thunderstorms is expected to develop on Monday afternoon, which will move across North and East Texas.

These storms also carry the potential to develop supercells.According to the FOX Forecast Center, drivers traveling Interstate 20 from Shreveport, Louisiana, to Alexandria, Louisiana, will likely see the worst impacts from those storms.NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center has issued a Level 2 out of 5 risk of severe thunderstorms covering parts of East Texas, northern Louisiana, southern Arkansas, and eastern Mississippi.Houston is just outside the Level 2 risk, but could still see strong storms Monday afternoon.Meanwhile, a Flood Watch covers parts of North Texas, including the Dallas Metroplex, through Monday afternoon, as these storms repeatedly soak many of the same areas. According to the FOX Forecast Center, most of these areas can expect 1-3 inches of rain through Monday.The greatest flood threat is concentrated in the Ark-La-Tex region, where NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center has issued a Level 2 out of 4 Flash Flood Threat that includes Dalla...