in the blast. we begin with the extreme weather threat across the central and southwestern u.s. more than 12 million people under flood watches, heavy rains pummeled phoenix, leaving streets and walkways flooded. meanwhile, a storm warning has been lifted for far southern texas, but rain from that system could spread into oklahoma and louisiana through midweek. so let s talk more about this with cnn meteorologist derek van dam. so much going on. what is catching your eye right now? well, some of the new flood watches that have been issued by the national weather service encompass some large metropolitans across north-central texas including dallas, fort worth, 12 million americans under flood watches as we speak. lots going on here. we re trying to get to all of it. i want you to see what s kind of the broader scope of what s happening. there s this low pressure system that s part of the monsoon that s brought the heavier rain and flooding you saw a moment ago across phoe
reporter: deadpool is when mead gets low enough to crash the whole colorado system. when katherine sorensen was running water departments in phoenix and mesa, it was the biggest worry . but now it s worse and the feds are begging western states to cut up to 1 out of every 4 gallons consumed. i know from our reporting there was some western water managers that were frustrated that the bureau of reclamation wasn t tougher. they said, you work it out or we ll work it out for you, but they didn t do that. what are your thoughts on that? it is disappointing. the longer that we have to endure the uncertainty, the more at risk the entire system is. and i don t envy the federal government, you know, the biden administration. they have some really tough choices to make. no elected official wants to be the person saying who gets water and who doesn t. i m sure they are desperately searching for the least worst option. but in the meantime, water levels continue to fall. and we will invest h