Severe storms with flash flood risk to stretch from Texas, Oklahoma to Arkansas and Missouri

As a powerful storm moves out of the Plains, areas of heavy rain could lead to flash flooding, and some of the strongest thunderstorms may threaten lives and property into Friday.

Rainfall from central Texas to Kansas and Missouri will bring both benefits and hazards. Parts of the region need a thorough soaking to ease drought conditions, but quick runoff across the roughly 900-mile-long area could lead to street and highway flooding and rapid rises on small streams.

A general 1 to 4 inches of rain is forecast from the Rio Grande Big Bend region of Texas to near the Mississippi River in Missouri.

The heaviest rainfall — totaling 4 to 8 inches with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 10 inches — is likely in parts of the Texas Hill Country northwest of San Antonio. A few locations in the O