FIRST ALERT WX: Monitoring flash flooding on the Coast (06/19/2026)

[00:00:02]Hey, good evening South Mississippi chief meteorologist Eric Johnson here.

[00:00:05]We're tracking extremely heavy rain across South Mississippi prompting numerous flash flood warnings all across the coast and inland across Stone County, Pro River County, and Hancock County. Uh but we're going to take you live now to uh Highway 90 near Courthouse Road. This is going to be in between Courthouse Road and Highway 90.

[00:00:26]We have looks like water rescues occurring. We have stalled vehicles on Highway 90 at the moment. This is from our First Alert Ceasefire Storm Tracker and you can see crews are helping these vehicles are helping these people get their cars out of this high water. It looks like uh maybe we have another truck there parked on the side of the road uh kind of assisting. So, it looks like those are the uh the responders that are assisting uh these areas. So you can see it looks like that car that stalled out, that is going to be the westbound lane and you just saw that truck pass by on the eastbound lane. So again, if you're just joining our coverage, this is a live look from our First Alert Ceasefire Storm Tracker on Highway 90 between Deise Road and Courthouse Road. And you can see how heavy that rain is. It looks like the water might be a little bit deeper though on that wet on that uh looks like that westbound lane. It just kind of depends on how you're looking at that.

[00:01:22]It looks uh it's a little confusing the way that car is kind of uh oriented itself in that direction. So, uh obviously the Highway 90 there is uh is flooded and we want you to stay off of the roads tonight. Of course, these storms have been producing a ton of lightning across South Mississippi as well. So, uh let's go ahead and uh switch over to the radar. Um, and if we can, I know I know we have some uh if we're able to if we can do another small box and keep that uh shot going so we can keep it up. But if we can't, I understand. But I do want us to look at the radar now. And I am seeing some good trends. Uh earlier we were watching these big thunderstorms. If you were watching uh our coverage uh just a few minutes ago, we were talking about how we had a lot of heavy rain in Stone County and northern Harrison County and Hancock County. The trend is our friend now. We're looking at those heavy storms moving out of there. We want to get those out of there as soon as we can because we don't need any more rain in this spot. Uh but the heaviest storms continue, at least for now, to be right along the coast over into now moving over into southern Jackson County. And I will say I am starting to see the strongest part of this storm uh to be uh pushing off the coast of Jackson County at the moment. So, let's go back to our storm tracker. It looks like we're coming up on another car here. Don't know.

[00:03:05]Uh, looks like maybe we lost my mic there for a second, but all right, there we go. So, we just saw that car. I think what we're coming up on, so in our First Alert Caseire Storm Tracker, we do have our reporter Tyler Bell, uh, who is out there. We're getting some information that, uh, there's several cars that are stranded on Highway 90. Uh, and that the road that our storm tracker is on is on Beach Drive. So, Highway 90 and we're on Beach Drive. So, yeah, several cars that we're seeing now stalled out on 90. The good news is looking at the rainfall rates on the radar. The good news is I'm seeing uh those rainfall rates go down and we're starting to see uh those storms move out of here. But man, they were producing so much heavy rain in a short amount of time and you know 90 floods very easily. But when you get rainfall rates of 6 to 7 in per hour and that sits on you for an hour, well there you go. You got six to seven inches of rain and that water just has nowhere to go except into the streets and flooding everything. Not to mention that we are completely saturated. So unfortunately looks like we have several stalled vehicles here on 90. Uh this is going to be again in between courthouse road and dees road. And what I'm seeing is uh there are several we're seeing reports of like this all across basically from Gulfport to Buxy to about Ocean Springs.

[00:04:25]The conditions are about the same. So, uh, that's where the heaviest of this flooding has occurred, at least in these urban areas where we saw the really, uh, high rainfall rates, uh, this evening with these storms. So, let's hop back over to the radar. I just want to show you where these heavier storms are at the moment. I'm going to zoom in to Jackson County, coastal Jackson County.

[00:04:48]So, Ocean Springs, uh, Golf Park Estates, uh, and over into Golf Hills.

[00:04:55]We're still seeing very heavy rain, but again, the good news is I'm liking this trend that I'm seeing on the radar of these heavier storms pushing off the coast. The further away from the coast we can get them, the better uh it will be because we just do not need these storms to sit on top of us anymore. Uh areas that have not seen too much rain, but you might start seeing an uptick in the rain are places like Goce and Pascula, Moss Point, and Escatapa. Uh so far you haven't seen too much of the rain, but we're seeing some of those heavier downpours approaching. But again, what I'm seeing here is the heaviest activity is now starting to push off the coast. And even though you're probably going to see a few heavy downpours in southeastern Jackson County, I'm starting to see new development right over Horn Island and Petty Boy Island. And so it looks like maybe to me that that the cluster of storms, we're starting to get new development out ahead of it. and it might be sort of regenerating out over the water, which again that is good news. Storms over the water, that's fine. Over us, that's not fine. All right, so looking at the bigger picture here, uh I just want to kind of give everyone an overview of what's happening over into uh George County. Uh things are improving. We've had some heavier downpours earlier, but just seeing some light to moderate rain at the moment.

[00:06:18]And you're probably still hearing some rumbles of thunder. I want to slide over into Stone County, which has been hit so hard this week with over two feet of rain in some spots. Uh we're seeing improvement on the radar here. Those showers and storms are moving out. And then if we slide over into Pearl River County, the good news here is we're starting to see those showers moving on out of here uh as well. So uh that is some great news. I do want to share with you how impressive these rainfall totals are. So this blob that you see on the radar that just popped up, this is the rainfall that has fallen just in the last three hours. So in just the past three hours, this is all the rain that we have seen. And this is why we're seeing such uh incredible flooding uh right here in downtown Beluxy over into Diabraville and Ocean Springs. Whenever I click on some of these totals, we're seeing some pretty impressive totals.

[00:07:11]Wow.

[00:07:12]uh just for three hours uh we're seeing rainfall totals anywhere from eight to nine inches of rain in just three hours. That is incredibly uh high rainfall amounts for even this area. You know, summertimes we get downpours here in South Mississippi, that's nothing new. But these kind of tropical downpours that are putting down almost a foot of rain in just a couple of hours, that's really impressive. And that's why we've been so concerned about the flash flooding this week because the atmosphere really has so much moisture to work with. It's really incredible.

[00:07:46]Look further inland. We are still seeing uh a lots of heavy rain uh in these spots uh here. I wonder if y'all can tell me in the control room, are we going to be able to uh have access to maybe uh hearing uh from anyone in our storm tracker or um will we have capabilities of that?

[00:08:06]Okay. All right. So, we're having some technical difficulties, but we are still getting those images in. So, let's hop back over to our storm tracker footage if we can. It looks like uh they're on Beach Drive and so a lot of cars are using Beach Drive to kind of get up and over where that heaviest rain. So on your left where the tracker is and those cars that are moving uh in the westbound uh lane there, they are on Beach Drive which is a little bit elevated from Highway 90 which is on the right. And of course uh this is going to be uh where that that barrier that ends up uh really keeping uh the traffic kind of uh separated there that sometimes can block a lot of the water whenever it's raining too. So, uh it's not a big surprise there maybe that we're seeing exceptionally high water amounts and of course it's going to be really close to the uh retirement home uh in that area really right in front of the retirement home essentially is where where we're looking at. So in between De's Road and uh Cow and Lraine uh or uh even courthouse in those areas is where we're seeing some of the the worst of the flooding. So uh let's hop back over. Okay, I see we have um Max one in the lower box. if we can just uh keep the storm tracker in the bottom box and pull up the radar on the bigger one.

[00:09:25]Uh we can do a quick uh radar update.

[00:09:27]And I just want to bring everyone up to date on some of these rivers again that we have been talking about uh for so long. But uh as far as these rainfall amounts uh we showed you on the coast, but look what has fallen tonight in Stone County.

[00:09:42]Uh really impressive rainfall amounts uh here too. anywhere from 5 to 7 inches of rain has fallen in those areas. Uh that's on top of all the heavy rain that we have seen this week. Let's talk about these rivers because uh today the Buxy River crested uh preliminarily around 21.17 ft. If that holds that would be the new record crest today. That would be higher than the May 1995 floods that occurred uh along. Okay, it looks like we now have audio from our tracker and our Woox reporter Tyler Bell has been out there uh collecting a little bit of information on these cars that are stalled out from these flood waters. Uh he's in our First Alert Cefire Storm Tracker. So, let's uh hear uh what you have uh for us out there, Tyler.

[00:10:34]Uh well, we've been collecting a little bit of information from some people here up uh at the 90 Express here on Deb's Road. This is the location that people are being taken uh when they're being taken off of uh Highway 90 right here.

[00:10:47]Uh and the person that we talked to said that uh they got to the point where their car stalled out and they even had water coming into the vehicle. Uh that was a little bit farther down, a little bit farther west on 90 here. Uh we were trying to get to that point. We were using uh the service road up here and it seems like a lot of people had the same idea uh trying to get off of 90 here, go around it. Uh and it's blocked up there.

[00:11:10]We're not exactly sure why we couldn't exactly see. What we were looking at was uh officials with some sort of green vest on standing uh right there roadside. So, not exactly sure what that was. You saw at least one car, that red vehicle back there uh pulled up on the on the grass here. We're not sure exactly what that was. Uh but there are definitely vehicles out here still stalled out uh on 90. We're told uh by eyewitnesses who are here at the 90 Express that there are a lot more farther down. We just haven't been able to get down there yet. So we're going to maneuver around and and see what we can do. Uh but that's the situation as they've described it right now. Eric.

[00:11:50]>> All right, Tyler, thank you for that report. Again, our First Alert Cefire Storm Tracker checking out the situation out there with the heavy rainfall that we have seen in a very short amount of time. Again, we were talking about the rivers. Uh the Buxy River crusted uh preliminarily today at 21.17 ft. I just want to reiterate this. All the heavy rain that we saw tonight, it's got to go somewhere. So, and we've been talking about this all night and all week.

[00:12:14]really the the river number the river forecast they're going they are not set in stone and you need to keep checking back in on those forecast because they will likely change based off of the amount of rain that falls. The river forecast center Noah's river forecast center calculates the expected crests by using a combination of what they are observing on the gauges and also estimating how much rain falls in the watershed. Now, if more rain falls in the watershed, then obviously that's going to change the forecast and it takes a little bit of time for them to do that and see those responses. So, if you go to our weather app, WLX uh First Alert weather app, and you open it up at the top, uh we will have we have a link that is dedicated to our rivers and you can keep up with those rivers constantly there. And that's where you're going to find the latest numbers from the Noah River Forecast Center for uh your rivers.

[00:13:08]the uh the I believe the Wolf River crested at its second highest crest so far. It is forecast to crest around 16 feet tonight into tomorrow morning. Uh that would be the second highest crest on record. That record again was set during Hurricane Isaac back in 2012 with all the really bad flooding that Isaac caused. And again, when it comes to tropical systems, you know, the category doesn't matter. We see how much problems heavy rain can cause. uh the Jordan River at the kill uh so far we crested around 11 feet and that is uh major flood stage and that is our third highest crest on record there. So looking back over into uh our river forecasts or river flood warnings, Pascigula River, it's forecast to crest around moderate or minor flood stage, close to moderate flood stage. But the areas that we're really concerned are are flooding close to major and moderate like the Buxy River. Again, these numbers will likely change over the coming days. Uh the Chudikabuff River is currently at 11.86. So that's kind of outpacing that forecasted crest. And it looks like uh we do have the storm tracker on Highway 90. So we can go back to that three box there if we want and kind of keep that feed up just to kind of see what our team is uh seeing out there because uh we've seen some of our M do cams out there with several reports. I will say this, you know, 90, this is why we call it a flash flood because the water rises quickly and then it falls pretty quickly and we're starting to see the water drain in these higher spots on Highway 90. But of course, we know 90 has lots of dips and lots of lower levels in it that can um uh lead to these areas where the water is deeper. And that's why we always say turn around, don't drown. You never know how deep that water is on those roadways, especially if maybe you're just not familiar with the area. Maybe you're visiting uh or maybe you have family in town and they're visiting.

[00:15:06]See, here's another spot there with heavier uh higher water there in spots.

[00:15:11]So, uh, all these low spots, uh, definitely are the problem areas on Highway 90. We also had some reports. I want to share this. Um, and I think this might be coming in, uh, this evening.

[00:15:24]So, we've had some reports from, uh, our assistant news director here who works at the station, uh, Rayanne. Uh she says that uh there were there's pro possibly some water that got up to homes maybe near uh Palmer and Ford uh here in Beluxy. So uh many neighborhoods flooding in some spots across the region because uh we've seen all these really heavy rainfall amounts. The Wolf River again cresting at 16 feet tomorrow morning. And just want to talk about the Jordan River really fast cresting it's currently at major flood stage and that's another river that's outpacing the forecast uh there and again that major flood stage that's higher than what we saw over Memorial Day weekend.

[00:16:06]We crested around 8 ft during Memorial Day weekend. Easta Westitta they are gradually falling but with the rain that we saw tonight those could start rising again uh in some areas. So uh what we're going to do we're going to do a quick overview of what's happening here. Um, looking at the radar again, I'm really liking these trends. I was a little nervous that some of these storms are just going to sit on top of us. And for a second, they were kind of stalled out in some areas. But thankfully, we're getting a little bit of a break and they're they're they're pushing out of here. Maybe they're just saying, "Oh, you know what? Mississippi is already water logged. Maybe we'll just go uh pour some rain onto the islands here."

[00:16:45]And you know what? That's okay with me.

[00:16:46]But again, we are still watching some heavy rain in Jackson County off the coast along Highway 90 from Golf Park Estates, Fountain Blue, Gocha, Moss Point, Pasigoula. I don't think this is going to be at the same level of what we just saw just to the west. But just a heads up, you know, in Goce, Pasigula, Moss Point, Escatapa, Hickory Hills, the lightning's going to start picking up.

[00:17:09]The rain is going to start falling. It's going to be heavy. The good news is I'm not seeing any severe weather trends.

[00:17:14]I'm not seeing any rotation in any of these thunderstorms at least in these parts uh of the area and we're just seeing some light to moderate rain continuing across this region. So uh I think for now we are going to go ahead and head it back over to regularly scheduled programming. But again, tonight, stay off the roads. And just for the record, uh before we go, I do just want to share with you, I do think I got the latest run of our futurecast.

[00:17:40]And you know, tomorrow we could see some afternoon thunderstorms and they could be heavy like they are today. You know, today for the most part was a dry day, but uh once uh we got these storms popping up, you know, there's plenty of fuel and instability for all these storms uh to to to dump a lot of heavy rain. So, here's a look at futurecast picking up great on these storms tonight. So, they progress them and move them out of here. Uh I do want to share this though. You know, as we head towards tomorrow afternoon, we could be dealing with more thunderstorms and some of those could be heavy. Uh, and at least it does look like these are more progressive as well, like they're moving out and and not just sitting on top of us as we go into tomorrow afternoon. But with rainfall rates that are extremely high, heavy rain in a short amount of time can lead to some flash footing. So, we just want to be on alert for that. Make sure you download that WLX First Alert weather app and you'll be alerted once those go through.

[00:18:36]But for now, let's head back over to regularly scheduled programming and we're going to keep an eye on what's happening uh on the radar overnight.

[00:18:45]This has been a WLX First Alert Weather severe weather update.