Iowa City Weather Alert: Severe, Potentially Dangerous Storms Could Pose Flood Risk

So you know all that wet stuff that's falling from the sky?

It looks like it might not have a good place to go, except into the streets, and heaven forbid, into basements.

Due to the soggy land and possible sustained pouring rain, along with potential thunderstorm activity including some hail, the National Weather Service in the Quad Cities has issued a Flood Warning and Flash Flood Watch in parts of Eastern Iowa including Johnson County.

These watches and warnings are the result of heavy rain systems that are expected to move through the area tonight and again on Wednesday. The watches and warnings are in affect through tomorrow night.

From the Flood Warning:

* FROM 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING THROUGH LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT

* TWO ROUNDS OF HEAVY RAINFALL ARE EXPECTED TO OCCUR OVER VERY MOIST OR SATURATED SOILS. WIDESPREAD ADDITIONAL RAIN AMOUNTS OF 1 TO OVER 2 INCHES IS EXPECTED WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS.

* IF THUNDERSTORMS REMAIN STATIONARY OR MOVE OVER THE SAME AREAS...3 TO 4 INCHES OF RAIN MAY OCCUR WITHIN A FEW HOURS. THIS WOULD RESULT IN FLASH FLOODING.

* THE RAIN THAT OCCURS WILL RUN OFF INTO AREA WATERWAYS AND CAUSING SIGNIFICANT RISES. THERE IS A HIGH PROBABILITY OF SIGNIFICANT RIVER FLOODING DEVELOPING LATER THIS WEEK.

From the Flash Flood watch.

HEAVY RAINFALL FROM NOCTURNAL THUNDERSTORM COMPLEXES THE PAST TWO DAYS HAS SATURATED SOILS NORTH OF INTERSTATE 80. TWO MORE ROUNDS OF THUNDERSTORM COMPLEXES...ONE TONIGHT AND THE OTHER WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON...

WILL BRING MORE HEAVY RAINFALL TO THE AREA. ATMOSPHERIC MOISTURE LEVELS ARE IN THE TOP ONE PERCENT FOR APRIL AND THE UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM IS EXTREMELY STRONG. WIDESPREAD THREE QUARTERS TO 1.5 INCHES OF RAIN ARE EXPECTED TONIGHT AND AGAIN WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THERE IS A VERY REAL THREAT OF STORMS TRAINING ACROSS THE SAME AREAS TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON.

And the Hazardous weather outlook for the area.

WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING... MAINLY NEAR AND NORTH OF INTERSTATE 80. AN ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH LARGE HAIL TO QUARTER SIZE IS POSSIBLE. MID TO LATE EVENING AND OVERNIGHT...

SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO BECOME WIDESPREAD OVER THE OUTLOOK AREA. A FEW OF THESE STORMS COULD BE SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL AND POSSIBLY DAMAGING WINDS. HOWEVER...THE GREATEST RISK WILL BE FLASH FLOODING FROM HEAVY RAINFALL WITH WIDESPREAD AMOUNTS OF ONE HALF TO ONE INCH EXPECTED...WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS LIKELY IN AREAS THAT SEE REPEATED STORM ACTIVITY.

DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT...AN INTENSE AND SLOW MOVING SPRING STORM SYSTEM WILL PRODUCE SEVERAL EPISODES OF RAIN AND SOME THUNDERSTORMS RESULTING IN ADDITIONAL WIDESPREAD MODERATE TO HEAVY RAIN AMOUNTS. THIS ADDITIONAL RAINFALL WILL BE OCCURRING ON ALREADY SATURATED GROUND LEADING TO AN INCREASED RISK OF FLASH FLOODING...WITH THE RISK OF RIVER FLOODING ALSO INCREASING BY LATE WEEK.