Lightning rips through the sky behind the Kimberly Clark plant in Paris, Texas Monday, March 19, 2012 as severe thunderstorms moved through North East Texas dumping inches of rain and heavy winds along the way. (AP PHOTO/The Paris News, Sam Craft)
Lightning rips through the sky behind the Kimberly Clark plant in Paris, Texas Monday, March 19, 2012 as severe thunderstorms moved through North East Texas dumping inches of rain and heavy winds along the way. (AP PHOTO/The Paris News, Sam Craft)
People search through debris after a storm passed through Gardendale, Texas early Monday, March 19, 2012. The storm overturned a trailer, hospitalizing one man and causing damage to several houses, vehicles and other structures in the area. Gardendale is a rural community about 8 miles north of Odessa. The forecast for northern Texas and southeast Oklahoma calls for baseball-sized hail, damaging winds and possibly tornadoes, according to the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla. (AP Photo/The Odessa American, Mark Sterkel)
A home in Bailey Yard west of North Platte, Neb. suffered damage after a tornado hit the area Sunday, March 18, 2012. The National Weather Service says a tornado that hit the area Sunday night was rated an EF3 on the scale that measures the strengths of such storms, with top winds of 165 mph. (AP Photo/The Telegraph, Joe Volcek)
This NOAA satellite image taken Monday, March 19, 2012 at 10:45 AM EDT shows dense cloud cover over much of the Plains as active weather ramps up across the region. Energy from a cold front extending through the Plains meets with ample moisture spreading across the region from the Gulf of Mexico to produce significant rain and thunderstorms from northern Texas through eastern South Dakota. Additional bands of heavy rainfall and thunderstorms form in parts of Arkansas and Missouri this afternoon. These storms are expected to intensify this afternoon. There is a moderate risk of severe weather activity for extreme western Arkansas, southeastern Oklahoma, and central/northeastern Texas. The strongest of these storms are expected to produce damaging winds, large hail, and a few tornadoes. A second area of severe storms are expected across central Texas later tonight, continuing the risk for damaging wind gusts and hail. In addition to severe storms, these areas will see very heavy rainfall and possible flooding due to repeated thunderstorm activity. There is also a slight risk of severe weather from south-central Texas to Missouri and eastern Dakotas/western Minnesota through tonight. These storms may produce damaging winds, large hail, and tornadoes in rotating storms. Elsewhere, light showers and thunderstorms form in southern Wisconsin and parts of North Carolina, while above normal temperatures continue to dominate the eastern half of the nation. (AP PHOTO/WEATHER UNDERGROUND)
Nolan Hight walks in the rain in downtown Abilene, Texas on Monday, March 19, 2012, as heavy rain fell across parts of the nation's midsection. (AP Photo/The Abilene Reporter-News, Nellie Doneva)
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) ? Residents and businesses from southeast Texas north through western Missouri braced for flooding Tuesday after a violent band of storms brought heavy rain, hail and at least one tornado, with more of the same forecast for the next several days.
The National Weather Service said a tornado touched down Monday evening about 25 miles southwest of San Antonio. The twister damaged several homes, trapping some people inside their mobile homes, but no fatalities were reported, according to The San Antonio Express-News.
The fresh crop of storms comes after two tornadoes damaged homes and railcars in North Platte, Neb., on Sunday. The EF3 twister with winds up to 165 mph injured four people.
Flooding remains a serious concern across the affected areas.
Eight inches of rain was expected in southeastern Kansas, which has been unusually dry for nearly a year. The area has had less than three-fourths of the precipitation it typically gets since last April, state climatologist Mary Knapp said.
The weather service said some low-lying areas experienced flash floods, including along the Marmaton River at Fort Scott, Kan. Forecasters said the river would likely exceed flood stage later Tuesday, but drop again Thursday when the rain subsides.
Emergency management officials said they're keeping an eye on the clouds but feel that southeast Kansas can handle several days of rain.
In Arkansas, however, emergency management officials readied teams to respond to flash floods, especially in the western part of the state where the heaviest downpour was expected. The U.S. Forest Service closed campsites preemptively Monday, exercising caution after 20 people died in a flash flood at a remote campground in 2010.
Forecasters in Tulsa, Okla., said the slow-moving storm was expected to stall over the area, dumping up to 12 inches of rain in isolated areas.
"When rain falls in those terrain areas" ? especially the hills and valleys ? "it's quickly funneled into small rivers and streams," said B.J. Simpson, a National Weather Service meteorologist. "Those are the most dangerous areas."
Still, even flatlands could see the potential for runoff and flash floods if the rain comes too fast for the ground to absorb it.
"There's really no amount of dry ground that can take up to 10 inches of rain in a couple day timeframe," Simpson said.
Thousands of customers lost power in San Antonio and Dallas-Fort Worth, where strong winds and rain pelted the area, and power outages were reported in Oklahoma City and Tulsa County. Flights were stopped temporarily Monday night at Love Field airport and some 35 flights were canceled Tuesday at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
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Associated Press writers Bill Draper in Kansas City, Mo., Rochelle Hines in Oklahoma City, Nomaan Merchant in Dallas and Jeannie Nuss in Little Rock, Ark., contributed to this report.
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