Flood warnings for Madison, St. Clair counties canceled. More rain could be on the way

The flood warnings for St. Clair and Madison counties expired as of 5 p.m. Tuesday, the National Weather Service of St. Louis confirmed.

“That’s going to be it. We won’t reissue flood warnings for those counties,” Lydia Jaja, a meteorologist with the NWS, said late Tuesday afternoon.

JaJa explained the process involved with canceling a flood warning.

“That means there’s not a danger for additional flooding and that the water is receding. But that doesn’t mean there’s no water present whatsoever,” she said.

As far as the flood warnings for Clinton and Washington counties, Jaja confirmed those both expired and will not be reissued.

On a related note, Melissa Mainhart, also a meteorologist with the NWS, earlier Tuesday explained the difference between a flash flood warning and a flood warning.

“A flash flood warning is for water that is moving into an area quickly. That’s more descriptive of this morning,” she said. “A flood warning is for flooding that’s happened but hasn’t yet receded. The fact the water is not rising or adding to the flooding means we’re not looking at the floodwaters coming up higher. The water might be receding slowly, but it’s not moving and we’re not gaining any more water.”

More rain headed toward the metro-east?

Moving forward, meteorologist Ben Herzog said the metro-east likely will see more rain Wednesday morning. He does not expect anywhere near the same amounts, but, after Tuesday’s storms, any rainfall could have an impact.

“It would not take much to cause problems for people. So be careful if you go out tonight,” he said.

Herzog believes the rain will move into the metro-east around 2 a.m. Wednesday and end around 9 a.m. As of Tuesday afternoon, he said the highest chance for heavier rain is in Madison County, but stressed that the wiggle room between there and St. Clair County is only 10-15 miles.

“It’s pretty difficult to pin down exactly where the rain will fall. We don’t have that kind of accuracy at this point so that could shift,” he said. “Again, it does not look like we’ll get near as much as last night or that it’ll last nearly as long. But, again, it’s not going to take that much to create more problems.”

Herzog again issued this precaution, “If people do come across flooded waters don’t drive through them.”

The National Weather Service recommends keeping plugged into the forecast as it develops at www.weather.gov. Their Facebook page is www.facebook.com/NWSStLouis.

This story was originally published July 26, 2022 at 5:43 PM.