A flash flood emergency was declared for the Birmingham area Wednesday as the city received nearly a month's worth of rain.
Published Oct. 7, 2021 10:00 AM EDT | Updated Oct. 7, 2021 4:36 PM EDT
Days of torrential rainfall triggered widespread flooding across the Southeast, leaving at least four dead in Alabama, officials said, which has been hit particularly hard by the stormy pattern. And AccuWeather forecasters say more rain is on the way for the drenched region.
The Shelby County coroner confirmed two deaths Thursday afternoon after floodwaters had swept away a vehicle in Hoover, Alabama, about 15 miles south of Birmingham, on Wednesday. The victims were two 23-year-olds, Hoover Police Captain Keith Czeskleba said during a news conference.
Officials with the Marshall County Coroner's Office confirmed early Thursday that two people died as a result of flash flooding in the city of Arab, located about 60 miles northeast of Birmingham. One of the victims was a 4-year-old girl, whose body was found late Wednesday. The body of an 18-year-old woman was recovered around 7 a.m. local time Thursday.
"We are working with law enforcement and fire personnel on both incidents to ensure the families have been notified. No additional information can be released at this time," the coroner's office said.
Birmingham has received more than an inch of rain every day since Oct. 3. As more heavy rain fell on Wednesday, the National Weather Service issued a rare flash flood emergency on Wednesday night that lasted into Thursday morning for Birmingham and Pelham, Alabama. Many water rescues and flooded roads were reported.
The Pelham Fire Department said that it had received more than 280 calls for service and rescued 82 individuals from their homes, while another 15-20 rescues from vehicles were needed.
Birmingham received 2.76 inches of rain on Wednesday, pushing the city's monthly total to more than 7.6 inches. Birmingham typically receives only 3.34 inches of rain during October.
A flooded neighborhood is shown in Pelham, Ala., Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021. Parts of Alabama remain under a flash flood watch after a day of high water across the state, with as much as 6 inches of rain covering roads and trapping people. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)
"We've had numerous water rescues, people trapped in cars and rescued by fire departments and police departments, and we've had damage reports of trees on houses and trees on roadways, and it's really across the entire Birmingham metro area," Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency Director Jim Coker told CNN. Coker added that crews will be out checking the damage to infrastructure on Thursday.
The Associated Press reported that several feet of water flooded streets in the southern Alabama towns of Brewton and East Brewton. The water also inundated several businesses in the area.
During the past week, a widespread 2 to 8 inches of rain fell across parts of the Southeast. More than a foot of rain has been reported from Monday through Thursday morning from unofficial rain gauges at Panama City Beach, Florida, and south of Birmingham, Alabama, at Hoover and Pelham.
AccuWeather forecasters say that this threat of heavy rain will slowly shift eastward through the rest of the week, while eyes must also turn to an area of interest just off the Atlantic coast for potential tropical development.
This map shows where the heaviest rainfall fell over the course of 24 hours from 8 a.m. CDT Wednesday to 8 a.m. CDT Thursday in parts of Alabama, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.
"A plume of rich, tropical moisture in the Southeast will slowly begin to pivot eastward on Thursday," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Carl Babinski.
The moisture has been streaming northward from the Gulf of Mexico and westward from the Atlantic Ocean. The slow-moving and repeating nature of the rain along with two areas of tropical moisture has helped to enhance the rainfall.
"Showers and thunderstorms capable of producing torrential rain and flooding will be shifting into the southern Appalachians on Thursday, including much of northern Georgia," said Babinski.
"Additional lifting caused by some of the higher terrain will enhance the intensity of the rain," Babinski added.
Since air cannot go through the mountains, it is forced to rise. The rising air cools and condenses into clouds and can lead to more rain compared to what falls in lower elevations.
Although rain will be lighter in waterlogged areas of Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle, it will take until Friday for dry weather to return. In the central and eastern Florida Panhandle, rain is not expected to come to an end until Friday night or Saturday.
Pensacola, Florida, has recorded 11.23 inches of rain already this month, with all but 3 inches of that falling on Oct. 4. That amount is more than double the city's normal October rainfall amount of 4.70 inches.
As of Thursday, Oct 7, Pensacola has reported a whopping 21.80 inches over the past 30 days, which is the wettest on record for that calendar period. The same goes for official records at Columbus, Georgia, with 13.22 inches, Pascagoula, Mississippi, with 12.51 inches, and Athens, Alabama, with 11.84 inches.
As the rain begins to shift offshore, there will already be an area of rain and thunderstorms off the coast. AccuWeather forecasters are closely monitoring the western Atlantic for this cluster of rain and thunderstorms to become better organized.
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Even as tropical waves coming off the coast of Africa are less likely to develop in October, the nearshore waters of the Atlantic always need to be watched this time of year. However, there are a few factors working against development with a tropical low that is currently located east of the Carolinas.
"Strong vertical wind shear will prohibit tropical development of this area of low pressure through Friday," said AccuWeather Hurricane Expert and Senior Meteorologist Dan Kottlowski.
The wind shear, or disruptive winds in the atmosphere, is likely to diminish slightly this weekend. Despite the lessening of the shear, conditions will still be far from conducive for tropical development.
"Vertical wind shear is expected to decrease as the feature merges with a cold front, but this merger will probably prevent the development of a tropical system," explained Kottlowski.
Even with a low chance of development, rough surf is likely through the weekend along much of the East Coast.
If this feature were to develop and attain maximum sustained winds of 39 mph or greater, it would be given the name Wanda, the last name on the designated list for the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season.
Correction: A previous version of this story indicated Biloxi, Mississippi, has seen 12.51 inches of rain over the last 30 days. It is Pascagoula, Mississippi, that has seen that rainfall total over that period.
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