The National Weather Service in Little Rock is warning of a potentially dangerous night developing across much of Arkansas.
Warning Coordination Meteorologist Dennis Cavanaugh says while most of the state is facing the potential for baseball-sized hail, 80-mile-per-hour winds and tornadoes, the northeastern quarter of the state has an even higher threat.
"Those storms will get into eastern Arkansas this evening. That's when we think we will have our absolute highest tornado threat because those low-level winds really ramp up after sunset tonight.”
Most of Arkansas will be under a tornado watch until the line of storms moves over the state overnight into Thursday.
Cavanaugh says Wednesday is just round one of the storm system, with three more bands of heavy rain crossing over the state, spanning the rest of the week and into Saturday.
"Those four rounds of heavy rainfall are expected to drop anywhere from six to ten inches of rain across the state of Arkansas. This could lead to some really high-impact flash flooding, including areas that very rarely, or have never flooded before."
Cavanaugh says everyone in the state should be on high alert throughout the rest of the week. There is a chance the flooding could be potentially historic.
"It's really important that folks know how to get warnings and know the layout of the land around them so that if they have to evacuate into higher ground, they can do so on somewhat short notice. This could be a somewhat historic flooding event.”
A flood watch is in effect until Sunday.
Cavanaugh says everyone should have emergency plans in place, and be ready to implement those plans at a moment's notice.
