States along the Gulf Coast were facing severe weather threats on Monday due to a storm system that had produced powerful tornadoes across the central United States over the weekend. This system had resulted in at least four fatalities and widespread damage as it moved over the region.
Meanwhile, record heat was expected along the East Coast, with temperatures soaring into the upper 80s and mid-90s in the mid-Atlantic. One area even experienced temperatures as high as 96 degrees. Powerful thunderstorms rolled across southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana throughout the morning and into the afternoon, bringing with them the threat of damaging wind gusts, large hail, and flash floods. Some areas received up to 2 to 3 inches of rain per hour. However, the worst of the heavy rain and thunderstorms were predicted to move offshore by the evening.
In Houston, commuters were forced to navigate floodwaters that had flooded roads, according to the state transportation department. Several school districts in Texas and Louisiana canceled classes or delayed the first bell by at least an hour on Monday due to the extreme weather forecasts. Additionally, the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum in Shreveport was closed because of severe weather, officials said.
As of late Monday, more than 48,000 homes and businesses were without power in Texas and Louisiana as the storms passed over the region, according to a USA TODAY database. Thousands in Oklahoma also had no power after a series of storms ripped through the central United States over the weekend. The National Weather Service in Houston warned on X, formerly Twitter, that roads were closed after floodwaters swept through the region Monday morning.
Authorities in the eastern corner of Texas posted a photo to social media Monday morning showing floodwaters in the town of Lufkin had overtaken a pickup that appeared to be abandoned in between lanes of a highway. About 35 miles east of Houston, in the coastal town of Cove, waters flooded highways, disrupting northbound and southbound travel, transportation officials said.
Other areas surrounding Houston reported a high risk of roadway flooding Monday, and authorities urged motorists to avoid unnecessary travel. While much of the central and southern United States continued to deal with severe weather Monday, potentially record-breaking heat was forecast to overspread much of the East, forecasters said.
"Temperatures will be well above average across much of the East Coast this week with today (Monday) being the warmest of the bunch," the National Weather Service said. "There's a chance for several stations in the mid-Atlantic to tie or break high temperature records today and tomorrow with highs in the 80s to low 90s." Monday would easily be the warmest day of the year in the mid-Atlantic. In fact, if forecasts hold, Monday would be the warmest day since early September in Washington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, AccuWeather senior meteorologist Matt Benz said.
Recovery efforts began on Monday in cities and communities across the central United States after a few days of record tornado warnings in a region where a slow-moving storm system unleashed dozens of tornadoes that flattened entire streets, tossed cars, and were responsible for the deaths of at least four people, including a 4-month-old baby, in Oklahoma. At least four people across Oklahoma were killed in tornadoes that ravaged rural communities and small towns throughout the state Saturday.
The Oklahoma medical examiner confirmed three storm-related fatalities: two in Holdenville, about 80 miles southeast of Oklahoma City, and one in Marietta, a small city near the Texas border. Hughes County authorities confirmed one of the victims was a 4-month-old child; the other was an adult male. Stitt announced a fourth fatality in Sulphur, a city of about 5,000 people, where a powerful tornado tore through the downtown strip.
"We'll do whatever we can to help put the pieces back together," Stitt said. "Thank goodness it was a downtown, that there wasn't a lot of people here at 10:30 at night. You just can't believe the destruction."
A low-pressure system is expected to bring showers and thunderstorms across the Great Plains and Mississippi Valley on Tuesday, according to the weather service. Very large hail, strong wind gusts, and a few tornadoes are the primary threats, which may be felt in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, South Dakota, and Minnesota.
Downstream of the storm system, isolated showers and thunderstorms are forecast to move through the Ohio and Tennessee valleys and into the East Coast on Tuesday, and there will be a marginal risk for severe weather.