Published: May 15, 2008 12:44 am            

System packing heavy rains threatens flood problems

JACKSON (AP) — Rain and the potential for violent weather moved into portions of Mississippi on Wednesday, raising concerns about possible flooding from lingering, heavy downpours.

A tornado watch was posted until 9 p.m. Wednesday in 10 counties — generally from a Natchez to Prentiss line and south and southwest into Louisiana — and a number of central Mississippi counties were under a flash flood watch until Thursday morning.

Mississippi has been slammed by violent weather in recent weeks, with some communities across the state still cleaning up from storms as recently as this past weekend. In Jackson, where April 4 tornadoes damaged hundreds of homes and businesses, the roofs of many structures are still protected by tarps.

Chad Entremont of the National Weather Service office in Jackson said Wednesday that the main threat with the current weather system is flooding. He noted that to the west, Shreveport, La., had received over 10 inches of rain since Tuesday night and has experienced substantial flooding.

Entremont said that while more rain could return to that area, the system had shifted more into southwest and south-central Louisiana.

‘‘From everything we’ve been looking at, this system will lift slowly northeastward and could focus in an area through west-central and southwest Mississippi, generally along the Natchez Trace,’’ Entremont said.

He said the possibility the system could regenerate during the night Wednesday meant there was a possibility of lingering storms packing heavy rain.

Areas in the path of the system could see 3- to 5-inches of rain through Thursday morning, with some localized areas experiencing even higher amounts, he said.

The system was expected to move into other areas of the state on Thursday, possibly resulting in additional weather alerts.



AP-CS-05-14-08 1555EDT

        

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