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Torrential rains, damaging winds on tap
for U.S. midsection
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 [April 29, 2017]
(Reuters) - A dangerous storm front
will thrash the U.S. midsection over the weekend with torrential
rainfall, damaging winds and large hail that will leave behind the
threat of flooding throughout the region, the National Weather Service
warned.
On Friday night, thunderstorms had already clobbered several communities
in the southern Midwest with winds that took down trees and power lines
while a reported rain-wrapped tornado in Lawrence, Illinois damaged a
house, destroyed a structure and caused power outages, the weather
service said.
On Saturday, a large swath of the region - from northern Texas up
through Michigan - can expect torrential downpours that will produce 7
inches (18 cm) of rain, large hail and damaging wind gusts of 60 miles
(95 km) per hour, the weather service predicted.
"The widespread and very heavy rain may produce life threatening flash
flooding," the weather service said in an advisory.
Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma told travelers on
Twitter to "expect delays" and to check their flight with their airline
as severe weather moves through the area.
The region has already received about 400 percent or more of normal
moisture in the last week and will be highly sensitive to additional
rainfall, the service said.
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Evacuations could be necessary as areas along swollen waterways
could see widespread flooding as the weather service issued flood
warnings and watches for the weekend and into next week.
"Be very careful if out in the flooding rain. Many road closures.
Never drive through a flooded road," tweeted Ben Pine, a
meteorologist for an ABC affiliate in Louisville, Kentucky.
To the west, a winter storm was expected to dump as much as a foot
of wet, heavy snow (30 cm) in parts of Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas
and Texas, the National Weather Service said.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Toby Chopra)
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