Louisiana Flood Threat Elevated – ‘Next Level’ Rains Likely

This is not the news that rain-weary residents of Lake Charles, Lafayette, Alexandria, Crowley, Eunice, and Opelousas wanted to hear. The Weather Prediction Center has once again placed the rainfall "bullseye" squarely on Louisiana and southwestern Louisiana in particular for strong storms with torrential downpours between now and early Friday morning. 

The Weather Prediction Center has almost all of Louisiana in the "slight risk" category for an excessive rainfall event between now and 7 a.m. Friday. The exception is a large swatch of southwestern Louisiana that includes Cameron, Calcasieu, Beauregard, Vernon, Rapides, Allen, Evangeline, Jeff Davis, Acadia, St Landry, St. Martin, and Vermilion parishes. This part of the state can expect a "next level" threat of excessive rainfall.

As you can see in the graphic above, the red or darker shaded area is where forecasters believe the greatest threat of heavy downpours will occur through early Friday morning. The red-shaded area is a "moderate" risk of excessive rainfall. That means there is a 40% probability that storms that form over this area could produce rainfall rates that could cause localized flooding.

To add to the complexity of the situation most of that part of the state received a large amount of rainfall yesterday and the day before. So, the ground is rather saturated and streams, creeks, bayous, and coulees are full but not quite at capacity. Today's rain threat, should it come to fruition, could exacerbate that situation.

This is why you'll want to stay close to us today, we'll keep you abreast of any changes in the forecast or should there be a localized threat to where you live. Just download our App if you don't have it. And once you have it downloaded be sure to turn your "Alerts" to the "On" position. You'll especially want to include alerts for Breaking News and Weather. 

Get our free mobile app

The current radar scan from the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Lake Charles shows a large area of mainly light rain scattered across southern Louisiana. Forecasters say the light rain will continue until sunrise. The next round of showers and potentially heavy thunderstorms will likely rumble across the region between noon and six p.m. today.

We can expect similar conditions for Friday although it does appear as though the threat of excessive rainfall across the area will lessen. Of course, that is something that we will all have to wait and see.

If you encounter water across the roadway and you're not sure how deep that water is, please Turn Around and Don't Drown. You can see more flash flood safety tips in the graphic above provided by NOAA.