Lots of rain was expected today in Texas and the forecast was alarmingly accurate. A tornado watch for East Texas has just expired, but the flash flood watch is up until 1:30 this afternoon-and it's not coming as a surprise to anybody, just in case Diane Sawyer is reading. Jump below the fold for details.
Edit 12:41pm Houston International is in a bit of a tough spot. They are under several watches and warnings, so far 9 flights have been cancelled, and their main parking garage is full.
See airport updates here.
I've been on a conference call all morning but I've been sneaking peeks at the weather.com tweets-multiple reports of flooded roads, washed-away cars, and torrential downpours in the Houston area, in addition to isolated tornadoes.
Follow the tweets here-you don't need a twitter account.
Additional tornado watch areas have been posted for most of the eastern Texas border and well over half of Louisiana until 3pm CST.
If you know somebody that lives in these areas, please make sure they are aware of the weather. There's a nasty squall line moving through and it's dumping rain by the inch everywhere it goes-it's moving into Louisiana as of 12:30pm CST. The tornadoes associated with this squall line have been pretty slow, but the most recent one is moving at 45mph-the previous warning was 25mph.
I have no idea if that means anything - the severe thunderstorm warning for Shreveport includes 60mph winds.
See watches and warnings at the Storm Prediction Center.