States along the Gulf Coast were under severe weather threats Monday as a storm system that spun up ferocious tornadoes across the central U.S. over the weekend – killing at least four people and inflicting widespread damage – moved over the region.
Elsewhere on Monday, record heat was possible along the East Coast, forecasters said, as high temperatures soared into the upper 80s and mid-90s in the mid-Atlantic, with one spot reaching a scorching 96 degrees.
Powerful thunderstorms rolled across southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana through the morning and into the afternoon, raising the threat of damaging wind gusts, large hail and flash floods with up to 2 to 3 inches of rain falling every hour in some areas, according to the National Weather Service.
The worst of the heavy rain and thunderstorms was forecast to be offshore by the evening.
In Houston, commuters were forced to navigate floodwaters that overtook 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, citing extreme forecasts. In Shreveport, the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum 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 U.S. over the weekend.
Flooding around Houston
The National Weather Service in Houston warned on X, formerly Twitter, that roads were closed after floodwaters swept through the region Monday morning.
“As you head out this morning, be aware there are several roadways closed or almost impassable due to flooding,” the weather service said.
Authorities in the eastern corner of the Lone Star state 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.
Record heat in the East
While much of the central and southern U.S. 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 will easily be the warmest day of the year in the mid-Atlantic. In fact, if forecasts hold, Monday will be the warmest day since early September in Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia, AccuWeather senior meteorologist Matt Benz said.
