Southern US braces for more rain, flooding as Francine fades

The risk to lives and property is not over with Francine as the tropical rainstorm, combined with another storm will bring dangers associated with flooding through the weekend.

As Francine's circulation slowly fades over the south-central United States, risks to lives and property will continue into the weekend as more rain pours down and a jet stream storm joins in and escalates the dangers of flooding, AccuWeather meteorologists warn.

"Francine will continue to lose wind energy as it spends the remainder of its life over land," AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Expert Alex DaSilva said, "However, as a tropical rainstorm, it will still be very capable of producing life-threatening conditions."

Drenching rainfall from Francine and a developing storm at the level where jets cruise will have the most widespread impact moving forward. Some of the rain will be beneficial, as much of the south-central region, the interior Southeast and part of the Midwest have been experiencing increasing dryness and drought conditions during the latter part of the summer.

Bands of excessive rain are likely to occur, and many inches of rain may pour down through the weekend.

Because Francine has stalled due to high pressure and a sea of dry air to the north, steering breezes of its leftover moisture will tend to get strung out in a narrow zone for many hundreds of miles in a northwest-to-south fashion that extends from the mid-Mississippi Valley to near the southern Atlantic coast.

On top of the rain that Francine delivered on its own into Friday, an additional 1-4 inches of rain will pour down from near the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers to Georgia and northern Florida, with a zone where 4-8 inches will fall from near southern Tennessee through portions of northern and central Alabama to near northwestern Georgia. Within this zone, there is an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ rainfall of 14 inches.

Depending on its exact orientation, the band of torrential rain and extreme flooding could affect some of the major metro areas, including Jackson, Tennessee; Huntsville and Birmingham, Alabama; and perhaps Atlanta.

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This is enough rain to lead to extreme flash localized flooding in low-lying and urban areas as well as along small streams. Significant rises on the secondary rivers will occur with dam and flood mitigation coming into play along the Tennessee River.

Motorists should be extra cautious when driving along secondary roads that could be subject to rising water or blocked by falling top-heavy trees.

Moisture from Francine will become intertwined with a budding area of moisture along the Carolina coast associated with a tropical wind and rainstorm and possibly a depression or full-fledged tropical storm.

Moisture flowing off the Atlantic Ocean ahead of the future tropical rainstorm could result in many inches of rain falling farther to the east than Francine's and the jet stream storm's influence. Through the weekend, a pocket of heavy rain will occur along the Atlantic coast, centered on the Carolinas.

Some of the runoff will work into a portion of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, where some water level rise can occur over the next couple of weeks. Any rise would help with tug and barge operations, which were being adversely affected by very low water levels in recent weeks.

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