The Atlanta Braves grounds crew covered the field during a rain delay on Wednesday.Credit.Todd Kirkland/Getty Images
July 22, 2021, 2:22 p.m. ET
An unusually wet spring and early summer across much of the Southeastern United States has soaked the ground and swollen rivers, leading to an increase in flash floods from heavy rains and thunderstorms.
Cities across the Southeast, including Atlanta, New Orleans, Raleigh, N.C., and Biloxi, Miss., have recorded more than 150 percent of their normal rainfall for this time in the summer, according to the private forecasting service AccuWeather.
Storms are expected to bring more rain to parts of Georgia and the Carolinas over the weekend and early next week. Chrissy Anderson, a National Weather Service meteorologist who covers the Southern region, said a low-pressure system over southern Georgia is expected to make its way to the Atlantic Ocean on Friday, where there is a 30 percent chance it could become a tropical storm over the next few
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The National Weather Service has issued a flash-flood watch for 30 counties in the region.
The watch will be in effect from 6 a.m. through 6 p.m. Thursday, the period during which the storm will travel over the stateâs central section, the weather service said.
Elsa weakened to a tropical storm as it threatened Floridaâs northern Gulf Coast on Wednesday after raking past the Tampa Bay region. Gov. Ron DeSantis said forecasts called for the cyclone to come ashore sometime between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. A hurricane warning was in effect for a long stretch of coastline, from Egmont Key at the mouth of Tampa Bay to the Steinhatchee River in the Big Bend area. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries in the Tampa Bay area, which is highly vulnerable to storm surge. The most powerful winds were forecast to remain offshore.