Widespread heavy rains threaten flooding across dozens of U.S. states this week

Meteorologists warn that a sweeping rain system, fueled by an intensifying super El Niño and unusually warm Pacific waters, will bring life-threatening floods to large portions of the United States from Friday through early next week. Flood watches have been posted for the Southwest, Intermountain West and Midwest, with the National Weather Service highlighting a slight risk for Montana, the Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa.

Burn-scarred terrain in Idaho and Montana will struggle to absorb runoff, echoing recent flood disasters in wildfire-impacted New Mexico and California. Fatalities have already been reported, including three deaths on the Navajo Nation and three more linked to earlier flash floods in Arizona’s Grand Canyon and Texas. By Saturday, heavy rain is expected to move toward the Great Lakes region and the East Coast, affecting areas from Boston to the Carolinas, while severe thunderstorm warnings have been issued in Raleigh and Charleston.