East Tennessee could see more flooding from storms Wednesday: Knoxville, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg under flood watch

East Tennessee could be in for some more flooding today.

After flash floods closed down Dollywood and left some parkgoers without a vehicle on Sunday, East Tennessee is bracing for another round of storms that could bring more flooding to the area, according to the National Weather Service. The weather service put the Knoxville area and areas around Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg under a flood watch through Wednesday night.

"Severe thunderstorms capable of damaging winds, in addition to heavy rainfall rates causing flash flooding, will be possible again today and tonight," read a post from the National Weather Service on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Heavy rainstorms in East Tennessee have already brought down trees and flooded streets in communities this week.

Here's what to expect from today's weather and the rest of the week.

National Weather Service warns of more possible flash floods in the mountains

Knoxville and East Tennessee could see heavy rainfall today as thunderstorms make their way across the state, according to the National Weather Service.

"Some of the storms will likely be severe with damaging winds as the main concern, mainly this afternoon through the evening hours," according to the hazardous outlook from the weather service.

The Pigeon Forge-Gatlinburg area already experienced flash floods over the weekend as inches of rain dropped on the mountain tourist area on Sunday. Video and photos showed people wading through ankle to waist-deep water at Dolly Parton's theme park in Sevier County.

The rainfall in previous days, plus the expected rainfall could cause even more flooding in areas across East Tennessee. A flood watch is in effect throu g h late Wednesday .

What is flash flooding?

Flash flooding usually begins within six hours, but often within three hours, of heavy rain or mass amounts of water accumulating in an area, according to the National Weather Service.

This type of flooding usually happens very quickly and catches people off guard. It can be caused by a number of things, but is often due to extremely heavy rainfall from thunderstorms.

"The intensity of the rainfall, the location and distribution of the rainfall, the land use and topography, vegetation types and growth/density, soil type, and soil water-content all determine just how quickly the flash flooding may occur, and influence where it may occur," writes the National Weather Service .

Flood watches and warnings in East Tennessee

The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for these areas on Wednesday morning.

• Anderson
• Bledsoe
• Blount Smoky Mountains
• Bradley
• Campbell
• Claiborne
• Cocke Smoky Mountains
• East Polk
• Grainger
• Hamblen
• Hamilton
• Hancock
• Hawkins
• Jefferson
• Johnson
• Knox
• Loudon
• Marion
• McMinn
• Meigs
• Morgan
• North Sevier
• Northwest Blount
• Northwest Carter
• Northwest Cocke
• Northwest Greene
• Northwest Monroe
• Rhea
• Roane
• Scott, Tenn.
• Sequatchie
• Sevier Smoky Mountains
• Southeast Carter
• Southeast Greene
• Southeast Monroe
• Sullivan
• Unicoi
• Union
• Washington, Tenn.
• West Polk

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: East Tennessee could see more flooding from storms Wednesday: Knoxville, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg under flood watch