Over the last week, areas near Lake Livingston, located northeast of Houston, have gotten upwards of 23 inches (58 centimeters) of rain, National Weather Service meteorologist Jimmy Fowler said on Sunday afternoon. Meanwhile, he said, areas in northeastern Harris County, the nation’s third-largest county that includes Houston, had a range of 6 inches (15 centimeters) to almost 17 inches (43 centimeters) of rain in that same period.

Scattered showers in the Houston area on Sunday brought light to moderate rainfall, he said.

“With the rainfall that fell overnight plus this morning it just kind of prolonged the river flooding that we were experiencing,” Fowler said.

He said the rain would taper off in the evening, with no heavy rain events expected in the next week or so.

CHILD DIES IN FLOODWATERS

In Johnson County, located south of Fort Worth, a 5-year-old boy died when he was swept away after the vehicle he was riding in became stuck in swift-moving water near the community of Lillian just before 2 a.m. Sunday, an official said.

The child and two adults were trying to get to dry ground when they were swept away, Jamie Moore, the Johnson County Emergency Management director, wrote in a Facebook post.

The two adults were rescued around 5 a.m. and taken to a hospital, while the child was found dead around 7:20 a.m. in the water, Moore said.

Storms brought as 9 inches (23 centimeters) of rain in a span of six to eight hours in some areas from central Texas to the Dallas-Fort Worth area overnight, said National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Stalley. He said the rains washed out some roads west of Waco.

HOUSTON-AREA RIVER LEVELS

Over the last few days, storms have forced numerous high-water rescues in the Houston area, including some from the rooftops of flooded homes.

Jeff Lindner, a meteorologist with the Harris County Flood Control District, said Sunday afternoon that “things are improving slowly.”

“We have water going down on our river systems,” said Lindner. The San Jacinto River crested on Saturday, with its east and west forks and main stem below Lake Houston falling from 1 foot (0.30 meters) to 3 feet (0.91 meters) overnight. he said.

Lindner said that so far, Sunday’s additional rain did not seem to be causing any new flooding. He urged people to still be cautious, noting that many areas are still flooded.

“We really need everybody to give it just another day before we feel comfortable that conditions are safe,” Lindner said.

Greg Moss, 68, was staying put in his recreational vehicle on Sunday after leaving his home in the community of Channelview in eastern Harris County near the San Jacinto River. On Saturday, he packed up many of his belongings and left before the road to his home flooded.

“I would be stuck for four days,” Moss said. “So now at least I can go get something to eat.”

Moss moved his belongings and vehicle to a neighbor’s home, where planned to stay until the waters recede. He said Sunday that the floodwaters had already gone down by a couple of feet and that he wasn’t worried his home would flood because it’s located on higher ground.

“It'll be OK to go in there in the morning,” he said.

HOUSTON PRONE TO FLOODING

Houston is one of the most flood-prone metro areas in the country. The city of more than 2 million people has long experience dealing with devastating weather.

Hurricane Harvey in 2017 dumped historic rainfall that flooded thousands of homes and resulted in more than 60,000 rescues by government personnel across Harris County.

The greater Houston area covers about 10,000 square miles (25,900 square kilometers), a footprint slightly bigger than New Jersey. It is crisscrossed by about 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers) of channels, creeks and bayous draining into the Gulf of Mexico, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of downtown.

The system of bayous and reservoirs was built to drain heavy rains, but the engineering initially designed nearly 100 years ago has struggled to keep up with the city’s growth and bigger storms.

___

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

___

Stengle contributed to this report from Dallas. Associated Press reporter Juan A. Lozano also contributed to this report.

___

Follow Juan A. Lozano on X, formerly Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70

(FOX40.COM) -- There are many popular beliefs surrounding where earthquakes come from, their impact, and whether they can be forecast.

Here's what some experts had to say about myths surrounding the powerful geological event.

Animals can sense when an earthquake will strike

A long-held belief is that animals have a sixth sense about potentially catastrophic events — including earthquakes. Changes in animal behavior prior to earthquakes have been reported, but that behavior is not consistent, according to the California Department of Conservation.

Studies show there are no perceptible behavior changes in animals before an earthquake.

Weather impacts earthquake probability

Experts say a common misconception is "earthquake weather," a term used to describe the idea of earthquakes and weather being related. Many people believe that earthquakes occur during hot and dry weather, but the California Office of Emergency services said they can happen at any time in any weather. 

Doorways are the safest place to be

Doorways were once considered to be among the strongest parts of a building’s structure. This led to the idea that doorways offer greater protection from earthquakes, however, experts say they are no safer than any other part of a household. COES said modern building codes and construction have "significantly improved the structural integrity of all parts of buildings," so the best thing to do during in an earthquake is “drop, cover, and hold on.”

California can sink into the ocean because of an earthquake

A prominent myth about earthquakes in California is the idea that a big enough rattle could cause the Golden State to fall into the sea. Experts said the shaking from earthquakes cannot cause California to sink, however, earthquakes can spark landslides that slightly change the shape of the coastline.

The ground can open and swallow people

The myths of people falling into the earth during an earthquake are only partly true.

Earthquakes are caused by faults that are within the earth. If a fault could open, there would not be any friction. Without friction, there is no earthquake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey

Although faults do not open, earthquakes cause settling and other ground deformation such as open fissures that people, cars, animals, and other objects can fall into.

California has the most earthquakes in the US

California has a reputation for being the home of earthquakes, but the myth of the state having the most earthquakes in America is only partially true, according to USGS. Alaska has the title for the most earthquakes each year, with California placing second.

California, however, has the most damaging earthquakes because of its larger population and extensive infrastructure. Most of Alaska’s large earthquakes occur in remote locations which leads to less damage and fatalities.

A wide region was swamped from Houston to rural East Texas, where game wardens rode airboats through waist-high waters rescuing both people and pets who did not evacuate in time. One crew brought a family and three dogs aboard as rising waters surrounded their cars and home.

A flood watch was in effect through Sunday afternoon, as forecasters predicted additional rainfall Saturday night and the likelihood of major flooding.

"It’s going to keep rising this way,” said Miguel Flores Jr., of the northeast Houston neighborhood of Kingwood. “We don’t know how much more. We’re just preparing for the worst.”

Husband and wife Aron Brown, 45, and Jamie Brown, 41, were two of the many residents who drove or walked to watch the rising waters near a flooded intersection close to the San Jacinto River. Nearby restaurants and a gas station were beginning to flood.

Water could be seen flowing into parts of the couple’s subdivision, but Aron Brown said he wasn’t worried because their home is at a higher elevation than others in the neighborhood.

Brown, who had driven from his home in a golf cart, said the flooding wasn’t as bad as Hurricane Harvey in 2017. He pointed to nearby power lines and said that flooding during Harvey had reached the top of the lines.

RESIDENTS IN LOW-LYING AREAS ASKED TO EVACUATE

Friday's fierce storms forced numerous high-water rescues, including some from the rooftops of flooded homes. Officials redoubled urgent instructions for residents in low-lying areas to evacuate, warning the worst was still to come.

“A lull in heavy rain is expected through (Saturday) evening,” according to the National Weather Service. “The next round of heavy rainfall is expected late (Saturday) into Sunday.”

Up to 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) of additional rain was expected, with up to 5 inches (12.7 centimeters) possible in isolated areas.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said more rain was expected Sunday, and if it’s a lot, it could be problematic. Hidalgo is the top elected official in the nation’s third-largest county.

ONGOING RAIN HAS LEFT PARTS OF TEXAS DRENCHED, RESIDENTS TRAPPED

Most weekends Flores' father, Miguel Flores Sr., is mowing his huge backyard on a 2.5-acre (1-hectare) lot behind his home in Kingwood. But on Saturday, he and his family were loading several vehicles with clothes, small appliances and other items.

Water from the San Jacinto River had already swallowed his backyard and was continuing to rise — what was about 1 foot (30 centimeters) high in the yard Friday measured about 4 feet (1.2 meters) the following day.

“It’s sad, but what can I do,” Flores said. He added that he has flood insurance.

For weeks, drenching rains in Texas and parts of Louisiana have filled reservoirs and saturated the ground. Floodwaters partially submerged cars and roads this week across parts of southeastern Texas, north of Houston, reaching the roofs of some homes.

More than 21 inches (53 centimeters) fell over a five-day period through Friday in Liberty County near the city of Splendora, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northeast of Houston, according to the National Weather Service.

Hidalgo said Saturday that 178 people and 122 pets have been rescued so far in the county. Scores of rescues took place in neighboring Montgomery County. In Polk County, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northeast of Houston, officials said they have done over 100 water rescues in the past few days.

HOUSTON IS ONE OF THE MOST FLOOD-PRONE METRO AREAS IN THE US

Authorities in Houston have not reported any deaths or injuries. The city of more than 2 million people is one of the most flood-prone metro areas in the country and has long experience dealing with devastating weather.

Hurricane Harvey in 2017 dumped historic rainfall that flooded thousands of homes and resulted in more than 60,000 rescues by government rescue personnel across Harris County.

Of particular concern was an area along the San Jacinto River, which was expected to continue rising as more rain falls and officials release water from a full reservoir. Hidalgo issued a mandatory evacuation order on Thursday for people living along portions of the river.

The weather service reported that the river was at nearly 74 feet (22.6 meters) late Saturday morning after reaching nearly 78 feet (23.7 meters). The rapidly changing forecast said the river was expected to fall to near flood stage of 58 feet (17.6 meters) by Thursday.

Most of Houston’s city limits were not heavily impacted by the weather. Officials said the area received about four months' worth of rain in about a week’s time.

The greater Houston area covers about 10,000 square miles (25,900 square kilometers) — a footprint slightly bigger than New Jersey. It is crisscrossed by about 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers) of channels, creeks and bayous that drain into the Gulf of Mexico, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of downtown.

The system of bayous and reservoirs was built to drain heavy rains, but the engineering initially designed nearly 100 years ago has struggled to keep up with the city’s growth and bigger storms.

___

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

___

Associated Press reporters Ken Miller in Edmond, Oklahoma, Jim Vertuno in Austin, and Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas, contributed to this report.

___

Follow Juan A. Lozano: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70

The World Meteorological Organization maintains lists of 21 names that are used in a six-year rotation. If 2024's names sound familiar, it’s likely you heard them in 2018.

When a tropical storm strengthens and reaches wind speeds of 39 mph or higher, it's given a name from the list, beginning in alphabetical order.

List of names for the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season:

Why do hurricanes have names?

Prior to the 1950s, tropical cyclones were tracked by the order in which they formed each year, according to NOAA. This led to confusion when multiple storms were churning in the Atlantic simultaneously.

"Storms are given short, distinctive names to avoid confusion and streamline communications," according to the NOAA website.

From 1953 to 1979, only female names were used for storms.

The WMO committee convenes annually and removes a name from the list if it is associated with an especially costly or deadly storm. This is done "for reasons of sensitivity," according to the National Hurricane Center. Despite Hurricane Idalia making landfall in the U.S. last year, the committee chose not to retire the name.

A total of 96 names have been removed from the Atlantic hurricane list since 1953. The full list can be found on the National Hurricane Center website.

What happens if all names are used before the season ends?

In 2021, the WMO created a supplemental list of names to be used in case the regular list was exhausted. This came after a busy 2020 season that blew through the regular list of names, plus the entire Greek alphabet, which was the previous backup plan.

The WMO chose to stop using the Greek alphabet because it drew attention away from the storms themselves and was difficult to translate. It resulted in concurrent storms with similar-sounding names, which caused confusion.

The committee also retired Eta and Iota that year.

Why aren't there names for all 26 letters of the alphabet?

The WMO determined there simply aren't enough names beginning with Q, U, X, Y, and Z. They would need six of each, plus a few in reserve, in case a name gets retired.

Names beginning with those letters can also be difficult to understand across multiple languages.

The scary moment came during a Facebook Live stream by Jesse Rossi.

In the video, Rossi and his partner can be heard wondering about the cloud formation ahead of them before realizing that they are facing a tornado.

A few moments later, as the pair look to pull over off Interstate 35, a large chunk of debris falls straight in front of the car, narrowly missing them.

The National Weather Service confirmed a powerful EF3 tornado had hit the area. Several buildings were destroyed and extensive damage sustained along I-35.

Video footage taken by Jesse Rossi shows the moment he and his daughter, also a storm chaser, realized they were seeing a tornado.

"We got power flashes!" Rossi could be heard saying. Moments later, a chunk of debris can be seen falling in front of the vehicle.

"You didn't see it until it was right on top of you," Rossi recalled on "NewsNation Now."

Rossi said that he hadn't even been chasing the storm when the incident happened.

"I don't chase at nighttime because you can't see them," he said.

Although he's since tried to figure out what exactly hit the truck by slowing the video down, Rossi said he's still not sure exactly what it was.

"It was a scary moment," he said.

People in Oklahoma were still cleaning up Monday after storms flattened homes and buildings. There have been four people reported dead in the state, including an infant. Dozens of tornadoes wreaked havoc in other areas as well, including in Iowa, where one person was killed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The roof of the bar collapsed Saturday as other brick buildings down the block crumbled. Family members who arrived Sunday to search for her learned she was the only one inside who didn’t survive.

“She loved her family, loved to cook,” said her cousin Wes Hilliard, who confirmed Monday that Goodman was one of the four people in Oklahoma, including an infant, who lost their lives in the storm. “She lived a good life. She was an amazing person who loved big.”

The storms, part of an outbreak of severe weather across the middle of the U.S., also left at least 100 others injured, authorities said. The deadly weather in Oklahoma followed dozens of tornadoes that raked Iowa and Nebraska on Friday, killing one person.

At least 22 tornadoes touched down in Oklahoma, the most powerful of which ripped through Holdenville, Marietta and Sulphur, said National Weather Service meteorologist Rick Smith.

Those tornadoes were rated as EF3 or higher, meaning they were powerful enough to uproot or snap large trees, remove roofs and knock down walls of well-built homes and easily toss cars and heavy vehicles. They were particularly dangerous because they hit after 10 p.m.

“It's human nature to want to see the tornado before you take action,” Smith said. “And you're not going to be able to see these tornadoes at night.”

In Sulphur, a town of about 5,000 people south of Oklahoma City, a tornado crumpled many downtown buildings, tossed cars and buses, and sheared the roofs off houses across a 15-block radius.

“We live less than a mile away, but last night it took us more than an hour to get here,” said Kathy John, the publisher of the local weekly newspaper, the Sulphur Times-Democrat, who spent Monday helping her staff move equipment from the downtown newsroom to her nearby home.

The paper hasn't missed a printing in 82 years, she said, and “we're not going to now.”

Hospitals across the state reported about 100 injuries, including people apparently cut or struck by debris, according to the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. A baby was among those killed, Hughes County Emergency Management Director Mike Dockrey told Oklahoma television station KOCO.

At least 17 tornadoes touched down Friday in Iowa, the National Weather Service in Des Moines said in a preliminary report issued Monday. The agency said damage to homes was reported in several counties. Crews are continuing to evaluate damage and a final count may take weeks.

Several tornadoes also were reported in Kansas and Missouri over the weekend, but crews were still determining how many.

In Sulphur, a 1930s natural springs fountain continued to pump on Monday, but the landscape around it was devastated. Giant trees that shaded the park were uprooted and splintered, with branches scattered across the forest floor.

In town, the sound of chainsaws echoed through neighborhoods as residents cut up fallen trees that blocked entry to their homes. A creek that runs through the center of town was filled to its banks with muddy water churned up during the weekend storms. The area also was battered with heavy rain, and many residents spent the day Monday sifting through soggy belongings or pumping standing water from basements.

“How do you rebuild it? This is complete devastation,” said Kelly Trussell, a lifelong Sulphur resident as she surveyed the damage. “It is crazy, you want to help but where do you start?”

Farther north, a tornado near Holdenville killed two people and damaged or destroyed more than a dozen homes, according to the Hughes County Emergency Medical Service. Another person was killed along Interstate 35 near the southern Oklahoma community of Marietta, state officials said.

White House officials said President Joe Biden spoke to Gov. Kevin Stitt on Sunday and offered the full support of the federal government. Stitt declared a state of emergency in 12 counties.

On Monday, Vicki Combs sat on a pink trunk of records that a first responder salvaged from her consignment store while her husband, Larry, pulled up his truck to help load what was left inside the crumpled building. The retired couple moved to Sulphur a few years ago to start their business, which they hope to eventually reopen.

“We're just devastated, like it can't be,” said Larry, a retired pastor. “All my life I've ministered to people who have gone through stuff like this, but it never really hits home until it happens to you.”

___

Associated Press journalists Sean Murphy and Ken Miller in Oklahoma City and Jim Salter in O'Fallon, Mo., contributed to this report.

"I just heard our patio glass shatter as the storm went past," Kneeland recalled in an interview Monday on "NewsNation Now." As he took shelter in the laundry room, Kneeland said he heard what sounded like a train going by overhead.

"I just thought, 'maybe we're going to have to replace a window, may have to replace a few windows' — but then when I finally was able to get upstairs and see what actually happened, was I like 'Oh, I don't have a living room anymore,'" Kneeland said.

Dozens of tornados caused widespread destruction across the Great Plains over the weekend. One person died in Iowa, as did four in Oklahoma, including an infant.

Tornado damage, according to the Associated Press, began Friday afternoon when an industrial building in Lancaster County, Nebraska, was hit. The building collapsed with 70 people inside, though authorities said everyone was evacuated and there were no life-threatening injuries.

The tornado that hit Elkhorn, where Kneeland is from, was categorized as an EF-3 storm.

"It's total destruction," Kneeland said, describing his property. "There's no roof over three-quarters of the house, the main level is leaning towards the front of the house super hard...you don't even want to stand in there, it's leaning so bad."

The front corner of Kneeland's living room was blown completely out, he said, while the back corner of the master bedroom was blown in.

"There was a chunk of plywood thrown through our back wall," Kneeland said. "It pierced the to the mirror and our master bedroom bath. It's crazy."

Kneeland said he and his wife are staying with her parents for now, and they have personal items that were able to be saved in a storage unit.

Even through such a hard time, Kneeland says, the community's response has been "absolutely incredible." Family members have come to the area to help out, while a local church set up what Kneeland described as a whole "warehouse's worth" of supplies in its parking lot.

"Anyone and everyone is out there trying to lend a hand," he said.

NewsNation national correspondent Emily Finn and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The city was hit hard by tornadoes that wrecked homes, trees and several businesses.

"It's just kind of surreal," said Gary Mensch, whose business was destroyed.

Mensch and his family have owned JJ's Furniture for decades. The tornadoes ripping through his city destroyed the business they have always known.

"25 years of hard work is being destroyed and there's nothing I can do about it," he said.

The tornado did not hit Mensch's home, but the roof to his furniture store was completely torn off. Debris and bricks are now scattered across the ground barely leaving anything to salvage.

"The water in there is three inches deep and all of this is wood furniture. So once it gets on there, it's done," said Mensch.

The tornado injured at least 30 people in Sulphur alone. Officials said one woman was killed and had to be pulled from the debris of a bar downtown.

Mensch said he has never seen anything like this, but knows his community is strong and they are now focused on rebuilding and moving forward.

"No matter how many things you have going, no matter how successful you are, it can end just like that," said Mensch. "In every situation there's positivity."

Tracy Jones was one of the few trying to pick up the pieces of her husband's law firm downtown.

"I just don't see a future and I'm worried about the future for the town, the future for my daughter," said Jones.

Communities hit by tornadoes begin cleanup after storms kill 5

She walked NewsNation affiliate KFOR around destroyed businesses surrounding the entire downtown area. During the walk to what was left of her husband's firm, the seriousness of what had happened seemed to hit her.

"I just didn't know it was this bad out here, it's bad down here. It's just horrible," said Jones. "We all know each other around here, it's a small town. The future of this place is just so hard to imagine right now."

Jones said she knew just about everyone who had a business downtown, her cousin had a shop around the corner from the law firm.

"Here take one," said Jones. She handed over a small purse from her now-destroyed cousin's shop. Giving out things for free after she and her family had lost everything.

Around the corner where her husband's firm once stood was a group of people helping clean up what they could.

One of the women in the group was her daughter who had driven from Stillwater to help out. Of all three cleaning up there was Riley, Kinley, and Meredith.

"We grew up here," said Riley. "We spent our life coming to parades here, we grew up here. There's a whole life here. We got hit by a tornado northeast of town once awhile ago but nothing like this. It was horrible last night because we were watching it and then the power went out so we couldn't see the news anymore."

While being interviewed, officials called out a warning that buildings around them were on the verge of collapsing, so they moved to a safe spot.

"The tag office next to me was destroyed," said Jones.

Her husband is Fob Jones, a Choctaw Appellate judge who in February was sworn in as the Choctaw Nation's new judge. She said he was trying to find the fastest flight out of Washington D.C. so he could get back home.

"We have to rebuild, we're not leaving," said Tracy. "My husbands livelihood is here along with all of these other people."

Jones was one of many business owners who spent Sunday picking up the pieces of their shops, garages, and antique stores.

But when asked by others what she needed for help, money or resources, she pushed the offer to the others that worked and lived near her.

"We're not the ones looking for charity, there are so many others who need help," said Jones.

Jones said this is what she would say to those who live and work in Sulphur who are looking for help:

"I get it, the future is hard to imagine now. But guys I'm so, so sorry but this is real. It is as bad as they say it is down here. It's like a war zone, but you know we can rebuild. We all know each other around here, it's a small town. And I know the future of this place is just so hard to imagine right now, but we need to rebuild. That has to happen, it has to happen. This is too good of a town not to rebuild."

Dozens of tornadoes wreaked havoc from Iowa to Texas, killing five people — one in Iowa on Friday and four in Oklahoma on Sunday, including an infant.

Punishing storms damaged a rural hospital, washed out roads and knocked out power to more than 40,000 customers at one point, Oklahoma officials said.

Tornadoes on Friday in Iowa and Nebraska also caused widespread destruction.

'It feels like a warzone'

The damage was extensive in Sulphur, a town of about 5,000 people south of Oklahoma City, where a tornado crumpled many downtown buildings, tossed cars and buses and sheared the roofs off houses across a 15-block radius.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said about 30 people were injured in Sulphur, including some who were in a bar as the tornado struck. Hospitals across the state reported about 100 injuries, including people apparently cut or struck by debris, according to the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. 

Authorities said the tornado in Sulphur began in a city park before barreling through the downtown, flipping cars and ripping the roofs and walls off of brick buildings. Windows and doors were blown out of structures that remained standing.

"It feels like a warzone," said Allison Combs, a Sulphur business owner. "With the helicopters going all day, it's just eerie."

Digging out from damage

Residents in other states are also digging out from storm damage, and millions are still without power across Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri.

In Nebraska, twisters with wild winds up to 165 mph hovered over suburban Omaha, demolishing homes and businesses Saturday as it moved for miles through farmland and into subdivisions, then slammed an Iowa town.

“We came home and there was no home to really come to," said Stacie Roe, an Omaha resident.

"We watched it touch down. We went to get shelter ... but we could hear it going through. When we came back up, our fence was gone and we looked over to the northwest, and the whole neighborhood is gone," said Pat Woods, an Omaha resident.

Police in Elkhorn, Nebraska blocked off roads to stop people from looting what’s left of the community.

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds spent Saturday touring the damage and arranging for assistance for the damaged communities. Formal damage assessments are still underway, but the states plan to seek federal help.

Stephanie Fox, a national Red Cross spokesperson, told NewsNation on Monday that the organization's main priority is to ensure that people have shelter and their immediate needs are met.

"It's really unfathomable what folks have gone through," Fox said. "Just understanding that they may have lost their livelihood, they may have lost their belongings, in fact, some may have even lost their loved ones. It's and incredibly vulnerable time for folks whether they're directly impacted or just a part of the community."

State of emergency declared

Stitt declared a state of emergency in 12 counties due to the fallout from the severe weather.

“What I saw downtown Sulphur — it's unbelievable," Stitt said during a visit to the hard-hit town. “You just can't believe the destruction. It seems like every business downtown has been destroyed.”

"We do still have a lot of nursing homes, hospitals, medical facilities that took hits last night. So, we're looking to make sure that they do have proper generator power and that these operations can still stand up," said Annie Mack Vest, director of the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.

White House officials said President Joe Biden spoke to Stitt on Sunday and offered the full support of the federal government.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The pest in question? Boisea trivittatus, better known as the boxelder bug.

Here are 4 things you should know about boxelder bugs.

What are boxelder bugs?

Unlike its invasive relative, boxelder bugs are native to North America, and are usually found with its preferred host (more on that in a moment). There is also a western boxelder bug, which can be found in the West, stretching from Washington and Idaho south through California, Utah, and Nevada, and into Texas.

They can be about 1/2 inch in length, sporting a red line on each side and a red arrow-like marking on its back.

As its name implies, the boxelder bug, pictured below, is attracted to boxelder trees. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the trees are “the most common host plant” for both varieties of the boxelder bug.

According to Colorado State University Extension, boxelder bugs are often confused with the small milkweed bug and the goldenrain tree bug. 

Where can I find boxelder bugs?

This will largely depend on what time of year it is. If any boxelder bugs over-wintered in your home, you may see them coming out of hibernation now. 

The bugs often appear between spring and fall, though are most abundant after a very warm May and dry July, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s horticulture division explains. 

However, they may go largely unnoticed during these months, the University of Minnesota Extension notes. Through spring and into summer, the adults will be feeding on plants and seeds.

Come July, boxelder bugs will begin laying eggs on the trunks, branches, and leaves of female, seed-bearing boxelder trees. You may also see them on maple or ash trees, or fruit trees, like apples and cherries.

As summer ends and fall begins, adult boxelder bugs will begin looking for places to overwinter, like your house. 

Can I keep them out of my house?

There are a few things you can do to help diminish the chances of the boxelder bug infiltrating your home. 

Experts recommend using caulk to seal open spaces around your windows and doors, and repairing any damaged screens in which the bugs could crawl through.

If you’re planting trees in your yard this year, you may want to avoid boxelder trees to keep down the population of boxelder bugs. Similarly, you can remove boxelder trees on your property, experts say. 

A registered insecticide can be sprayed on trees or your home, though the University of Maryland Extension reports insecticide is “not necessary or recommended to control” boxelder bugs since they are only “minor nuisance pests.” UW Madison says insecticidal soap or hot soapy water can also be used on your home, but multiple applications may be necessary if you use the latter.  

Are boxelder bugs bad?

Unlike some other pests you may encounter, boxelder bugs don’t bite or sting, and you won’t find them feasting on your food. With the exception of fruit trees, they don’t usually cause much damage either. 

If you see one in your home, you may want to avoid squashing it. Like its cousin, the invasive stink bug, boxelder bugs can release an unpleasant odor and stain fabrics. Instead, experts recommend using a vacuum to remove the bug or spraying them with “a 3-4% mix of water and soap (by volume).”

As annoying as boxelder bugs may be, they’re relatively harmless. The same can’t be said for the brown marmorated stink bug, the spotted lanternfly, and the spongy moth — all invasive species spreading in the U.S.

More than 20,000 people remained without electricity after tornadoes began late Saturday night. The destruction was extensive in Sulphur, a town of about 5,000 people, where a tornado crumpled many downtown buildings, tossed cars and buses and sheared the roofs off houses across a 15-block radius.

“You just can't believe the destruction,” Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said during a visit to the hard-hit town. “It seems like every business downtown has been destroyed.”

Stitt said about 30 people were injured alone in Sulphur, including some who were in a bar as the tornado struck. Hospitals across the state reported about 100 injuries, including people apparently cut or struck by debris or hurt from falls, according to the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.

White House officials said President Joe Biden spoke to Gov. Stitt on Sunday and offered the full support of the federal government.

The deadly weather in Oklahoma added to the dozens of reported tornadoes that wreaked havoc in the nation's midsection since Friday. On Sunday, authorities in Iowa said a man injured during a tornado that hit the town of Minden on Friday had died, according to local reports.

Authorities said the tornado in Sulphur began in a city park before barreling through the downtown, flipping cars and ripping the roofs and walls off of brick buildings. Windows and doors were blown out of structures that remained standing.

“How do you rebuild it? This is complete devastation,” said Kelly Trussell, a lifelong Sulphur resident as she surveyed the damage. “It is crazy, you want to help but where do you start?”

Carolyn Goodman traveled to Sulphur from the nearby town of Ada in search of her former sister-in-law, who Goodman said was at a local bar before just before the tornado hit the area. Stitt said one of the victims was found inside a bar but authorities had not yet identified those killed.

“The bar was destroyed,” Goodman said. “I know they probably won’t find her alive ... but I hope she is still alive.”

Farther north, a tornado near the town of Holdenville killed two people and damaged or destroyed more than a dozen homes, according to the Hughes County Emergency Medical Service. Another person was killed along Interstate 35 near the southern Oklahoma city of Marietta, state officials said.

Heavy rains that swept into Oklahoma with the tornadoes also caused dangerous flooding and water rescues. Outside Sulphur, rising lake levels shut down the Chickasaw National Recreation Area, where the storms wiped out a pedestrian bridge.

Stitt issued an executive order Sunday declaring a state of emergency in 12 counties due to the fallout from the severe weather.

At the Sulphur High School gym, where families took cover from the storm, Jackalyn Wright said she and her family heard what sounded like a helicopter as the tornado touched down over them.

Chad Smith, 43, said people ran into the gym as the wind picked up. The rain started coming faster and the doors slammed shut. “Just give me a beer and a lawn chair and I will sit outside and watch it,” Smith said. Instead, he took cover.

Residents in other states were also digging out from storm damage. A tornado in suburban Omaha, Nebraska, demolished homes and businesses Saturday as it moved for miles through farmland and into subdivisions, then slammed an Iowa town.

The tornado damage began Friday afternoon near Lincoln, Nebraska. An industrial building in Lancaster County was hit, causing it to collapse with 70 people inside. Several were trapped, but everyone was evacuated, and the three injuries were not life-threatening, authorities said.

One or possibly two tornadoes then spent around an hour creeping toward Omaha, leaving behind damage consistent with an EF3 twister, with winds of 135 to 165 mph (217 to 265 kph), said Chris Franks, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service’s Omaha office.

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds spent Saturday touring the damage and arranging for assistance for the damaged communities. Formal damage assessments are still underway, but the states plan to seek federal help.

Dozens of reported tornadoes wreaked havoc Friday in the Midwest, causing a building to collapse with dozens of people inside and destroying and damaging at least 150 homes in Omaha alone.

But no fatalities were reported, and fewer than two dozen people were treated at Omaha-area hospitals, said Dr. Lindsay Huse, health director of the city's Douglas County Health Department.

“Miraculous” she said, stressing that none of the city's injuries were serious. Neighboring communities reported a handful of injuries each.

The tornado damage started Friday afternoon near Lincoln, Nebraska. An industrial building in Lancaster County was hit, causing it to collapse with 70 people inside. Several were trapped, but everyone was evacuated, and the three injuries were not life-threatening, authorities said.

One or possibly two tornadoes then spent around an hour creeping toward Omaha, leaving behind damage consistent with an EF3 twister, with winds of 135 to 165 mph, said Chris Franks, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service's Omaha office.

Ultimately the twister slammed into the Elkhorn neighborhood in western Omaha, a city of 485,000 people with a metropolitan-area population of about 1 million.

“We barely made it to the basement and then we heard the destruction going on upstairs,” said James Stennis, who moved to the Elkhorn neighborhood about a year ago. “Wow!”

Firefighters worked into the evening to make sure no one was trapped. By Saturday morning, the sounds of chainsaws filled the air there. Lumber from the damaged homes lay in piles. Fences were knocked over, and the trees were skeletal, missing most of their branches.

Staci Roe surveyed the damage to what was supposed to be her “forever home,” which was not even two years old. When the tornado hit, they were at the airport picking up a friend who was supposed to spend the night.

“There was no home to come to,” she said, describing “utter dread” when she saw it for the first time.

Power outages peaked at 10,000, but they had dropped to 4,300 by morning.

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds spent Saturday touring the damage and arranging for assistance for the damaged communities. Formal damage assessments are still underway, but the states plan to seek federal help.

“It is an extraordinary miracle that we've had this kind of cell come through and no casualties, no loss of life,” Pillen marveled at a news conference.

Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson begged gawkers to stay at home, saying he and Pillen were stuck in multiple traffic jams while viewing the wreckage.

“And that’s because in large part there’s a lot of looky-loos who are very curious,” he said. Hanson said law enforcement would be out in force to safeguard the damaged property.

A second tornado then passed over Eppley Airfield on the eastern edge of Omaha, destroying four hanger buildings with 32 privately owned planes inside. No one was hurt, and the passenger terminal was not hit. The airport has resumed operations, although access to areas used by noncommercial pilots is limited so crew can clean up the mess, the airfield said in a news release.

Franks estimated that this twister was a slightly weaker EF2, capable of winds of 111 to 135 mph.

“Strong tornadoes, rare tornadoes,” he called the duo of twisters that hit the city.

After hitting the airport, the storm moved into Iowa, taking aim at the small town of Minden.

Forty to 50 homes were completely destroyed. Two injuries were reported but none were life-threatening, said Jeff Theulen, chief deputy of the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, at a late Friday briefing.

“It’s heartbreaking to see these people who have lost houses, cars, essentially their life until they have to rebuild it,” he said, urging people to stay away because of downed power lines.

At the Minden United Church of Christ, which survived the storm and has become a community hub of help and support, there were plans to take 4-wheel-drive vehicles out to devastated parts of town to bring meals to those who need them, Pastor Eric Biehl said.

“A lot of people are just kind of in shock,” Biehl said. “It’s all overwhelming now.”

Tammy Pavich, who stores equipment on the west edge of town, said she “kind of breathed a sigh of relief” after the first round of tornadoes moved through Omaha. Then, she recalled, the storm “hit Minden dead-on.”

Todd Lehan, a lifelong resident of the town, said he took shelter in a windowless basement. “It sounded like a vacuum cleaner on top of your house,” he recalled.

Just west of the Iowa town of Pleasant Hill, a suspected tornado also damaged nearly 20 homes, injuring one person.

The damage was causing headaches for Nebraska football fans headed to the spring game.

“Be prepared for heavy traffic, buckle up and put the phone down,” warned the Nebraska Department of Transportation.

Even as the National Weather Service worked to evaluate the damage, the forecast for Saturday was ominous. It issued tornado watches for parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa. Large hail also was possible. Some schools canceled proms because of the forecasts.

“Tornadoes, perhaps significant tornadoes,” were possible Saturday afternoon and evening, said weather service meteorologist Bruce Thoren in Norman, Oklahoma.

___

Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas and Martin from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Margery A. Beck and Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska; Ken Miller in Oklahoma City; Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa; Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota; and Lisa Baumann in Bellingham, Washington; contributed to this report.

“People had warnings of this and that saved lives," Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said of the few serious injuries.

The tornado warning was issued in the Omaha area on Friday afternoon just as children were due to be released from school. Many schools had students shelter in place until the storm passed. Hours later, buses were still transporting students home.

The National Weather Service issued tornado emergencies from the Omaha area to central Iowa as the storm system moved northeast.

The Omaha Public Power District reported that nearly 10,000 customers were without power in the Omaha area.

Lancaster County, Nebraska authorities say part of a manufacturing facility collapsed, trapping dozens of workers, but injuring only a handful.

BNSF Railway says nobody was hurt when several train cars were derailed by one twister outside Lincoln, Nebraska.

Social media posts revealed leveled buildings and lots of damage in Minden, Iowa, about 100 miles west of Des Moines. Tornado warnings were posted around most of the Des Moines area Friday night.

The forecast for the weekend is more of the same. The Weather Service also issued tornado watches across parts of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. And forecasters warn that large hail and strong wind gusts are possible.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Multiple tornadoes were reported in Nebraska and Iowa on Friday, but the most destructive storm moved from a largely rural area into suburbs northwest of Omaha, a city of 485,000 people. Photos on social media showed the small city of Minden, Iowa, about 30 miles (48.3 kilometers) northeast of Omaha also sustained heavy damage.

Three people were injured in Nebraska's Lancaster County when a tornado hit an industrial building, causing it to collapse with 70 people inside. Several were trapped, but everyone was evacuated and the injuries were not life-threatening, authorities said.

Hundreds of houses sustained damage in Omaha, mostly in the Elkhorn area in the western part of the city, Omaha police Lt. Neal Bonacci said. Police and firefighters moved door-to-door to help people. Crews went to the “hardest hit area” and had a plan to search anywhere someone could be trapped, Omaha Fire Chief Kathy Bossman said.

“They're going to be putting together a strategic plan for a detailed search of the area, starting with the properties with most damage,” Bossman said. “We'll be looking throughout properties in debris piles, we'll be looking in basements, trying to find any victims and make sure everybody is rescued who needs assistance.”

Bonacci said many homes were destroyed or severely damaged.

"You definitely see the path of the tornado,” Bonacci said.

In one area of Elkhorn, dozens of newly built, large homes were damaged. At least six were wrecked, including one that was leveled, while others had the top half ripped off. There were dozens of emergency vehicles in the area.

“We watched it touch down like 200 yards over there and then we took shelter,” said Pat Woods, who lives in Elkhorn. "We could hear it coming through. When we came up our fence was gone and we looked to the northwest and the whole neighborhood's gone.”

His wife, Kim Woods added, “The whole neighborhood just to the north of us is pretty flattened.”

Three people, including a child, were in the basement of the leveled home when the tornado hit but got out safely, according to Dhaval Naik, who said he works with home's owner.

KETV-TV video showed one woman being removed from a wrecked home on a stretcher in Blair, a city just north of Omaha.

Bonacci said only two people have been transported for treatment, both with minor injuries.

He said crews are now doing a second search of homes. He said fire crews would work throughout the night to check all the unsafe structures and make sure no one is inside.

“People had warnings of this and that saved lives," Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said, of the few serious injuries.

The tornado warning was issued in the Omaha area on Friday afternoon just as children were due to be released from school. Many schools had students shelter in place until the storm passed. Hours later, buses were still transporting students home.

“Was it one long track tornado or was it several tornadoes?” said Becky Kern, the warning coordination meteorologist in the National Weather Service’s Omaha office.

She said the agency planned to send out multiple crews over the next several days to determine the number of tornadoes and their strength, and that it could take up to two weeks to finish the evaluation.

“Some appeared to be violent tornadoes,” she continued. “There were tornadoes in different areas. And so it’s like forensic meteorology, we call it, like piecing together, all the damage indicators.”

Another tornado hit an area on the eastern edge of Omaha, passing directly through parts of Eppley Airfield, the city's airport. Officials closed the airport to aircraft operations to access damage but then reopened the facility, Omaha Airport Authority Chief Strategy Officer Steve McCoy said.

The passenger terminal wasn't hit by the tornado but people rushed to storm shelters until the twister passed, McCoy said.

After passing through the airport, the tornado crossed the Missouri River and into Iowa, north of Council Bluffs.

Nebraska Emergency Management Agency spokesperson Katrina Sperl said damage reports were just starting to come in. Taylor Wilson, a spokesperson for the University of Nebraska Medical Center, said they hadn’t seen any injuries yet.

In Lancaster County, where three people were injured when an industrial building collapsed, sheriff's officials also said they had reports of a tipped-over train near Waverly.

Two people who were injured in the county were being treated at the trauma center at Bryan Medical Center West Campus in Lincoln, the facility said in a news release. The hospital said the patients were in triage and no details were released on their condition.

The Omaha Public Power District reported that nearly 10,000 customers were without power in the Omaha area.

Daniel Fienhold, manager of the Pink Poodle Steakhouse in Crescent, Iowa, said he was outside watching the weather with his daughter and restaurant employees. He said “it looked like a pretty big tornado was forming” northeast of town.

“It started raining, and then it started hailing, and then all the clouds started to kind of swirl and come together, and as soon as the wind started to pick up, that’s when I headed for the basement, but we never saw it,” Fienhold said.

The forecast for Saturday was ominous. The Weather Service also issued tornado watches across parts of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. And forecasters warned that large hail and strong wind gusts were possible.

“It does look like a big outbreak again tomorrow,” Kern said. “Maybe slightly farther south.”

___

Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas. Associated Press writers Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota, and Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Spotters have already noted more than two dozen tornadoes in eastern Nebraska. One especially huge, nearly black twister near Waverly crossed Interstate 80, forcing drivers to pull off the road before encountering the winds.

Several counties posted tornado warnings and watches throughout the afternoon. Pictures posted to Rural Radio’s website showed several other twisters, as well as damage to homes and other buildings. Other photos on The Weather Channel site show homes completely destroyed.

Omaha TV stations, including KVET, are covering the event.

Tornado warning sirens were heard throughout the city of Omaha at around 5pm CT. Local media report thousands around Omaha are without power. Authorities in Nebraska and nearby western Iowa are warning people to seek shelter.

Tornado watches are also up for the many counties between Kansas City, Missouri, and Des Moines, Iowa.

The National Weather Service defines a tornado emergency as an event that causes significant, widespread damage with a high likelihood of numerous fatalities. NWS is posting updates on its X page.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

"We had just gotten here to do the rehearsal for the wedding on Saturday, and then got in the building and shortly thereafter, the storm hit," Heather Jonas, the mother of the bride, said. "We kind of ran to the bathroom and (it) sounded like a train was getting ready to come through the building."

Annette Johnson, the wedding coordinator, said there were around 25 people in the building when the storm arrived.

"Everything started rattling when the roof ripped off and we got everyone to safety," she said. "It was a little bit of chaos, but we stayed very calm and tried to keep our guests calm, but nobody was hurt."

Nearby barns were also destroyed in the storm, but no one was injured at the 350-acre event venue.

"Once we knew everyone was OK, we went outside and practiced and rehearsed for the wedding," Jonas said. "Everyone was good, (we) kind of celebrated and we were all safe."

The team at Brookdale Farms worked overnight to assess structural integrity and make repairs. In photos shared to Facebook, workers could be seen replacing the roof of the wedding venue in preparation for Saturday's reception.

"We are optimistic that we will be able to host their wedding here at 5 p.m.," James Vivak, general manager of Brookdale Farms, said Saturday.

Come the day of the wedding, the happy couple — Kyle and Taylor O'Driscoll — were able to celebrate (almost) as planned, complete with photos in front of a damaged barn.

Wedding photographer Mindee Malloy, speaking with Nexstar, said she wasn't present at the rehearsal dinner, but praised Brookdale Farms for their impressive turnaround.

"Brookdale Farms did an outstanding job dealing with the situation and making sure Taylor and Kyle were still able to have the day they deserved," Malloy said.

The UPenn forecast predicts between 27-39 named tropical storms, with the best estimate of 33 storms, the most of any forecast in the 15-year history of the project. An average season usually has about half that number.

“We’ve seen many hyperactive seasons over the past decade, and in just about all cases, like our prediction for this year, the activity is substantially driven by ever-warmer conditions in the tropical Atlantic tied to large-scale warming,” Professor Michael Mann, who leads the forecast, said in a statement.

High sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic and an anticipated moderate La Niña weather formation in the Pacific this fall are likely to lead to more storms, according to the forecast.

Mann said his group’s predictions can be used to better prepare for the hurricane season, and also speak to greater links between climate trends and weather patterns.

“These results underscore the seasonal relationship between climate and tropical cyclones, which helps to provide context for understanding how climate change is impacting hurricanes,” Mann said. “Since it’s the same basic relationships that are in play on seasonal and longer timescales, for instance, the warmth of the tropical Atlantic.”

The announcement comes after Colorado State University researchers, generally considered the most reliable forecast, also predicted a rough hurricane season. The CSU forecast calls for 23 named storms in 2024, significantly higher than the average of 14.

The CSU forecast warns Americans to “anticipate a well above-average probability for major hurricanes making landfall along the continental United States coastline and in the Caribbean.”

All but two states on the new national forecast map are show in shades of orange and red. The darker the color, the more likely an area is to see above-average temperatures between May and July this year.

The highest probabilities of an extra-hot start to summer are found in the Northeast, Washington state, New Mexico, south Texas and southern Florida.

The two big exceptions are the Dakotas. Both North Dakota and South Dakota – plus the areas that border the states – have equal chances of above-average, below-average and normal temperatures.

A small sliver of southern California and Arizona is in the same boat, though the majority of those two states are leaning toward warm weather.

The Hawaiian islands, which aren't pictured on the map above, are facing a similar forecast over the next three months. Kauai, Oahu and Maui have higher chances of warmer-than-normal temperatures, while the Big Island is more a toss-up.

When it comes to precipitation, the next three months are looking drier than they have in recent weather outlooks. While the Southeast has a chance of seeing more rain than typical, parts of the Pacific Northwest and Southwest are looking dry.

Most of the country has equal chances of three different outcomes: average rain, more rain than normal, or less rain than normal.

The three-month outlooks are created by the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Over the same period of time, between now and early summer, national meteorologists expect El Niño to end. Current conditions favor a switch to La Niña between June and August, NOAA said. It will likely grow stronger from there; La Niña and El Niño both tend to reach peak strength during winter.

Dubai International Airport, the world's busiest for international travel, allowed global carriers on Thursday morning to again fly into Terminal 1 at the airfield. And long-haul carrier Emirates, crucial to East-West travel, began allowing local passengers to arrive at Terminal 3, their base of operations.

However, Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths said in an interview with The Associated Press that the airfield needed at least another 24 hours to resume operations close to its usual schedule. Meanwhile, one desert community in Dubai saw floodwaters continue to rise Thursday to as much as 1 meter (3 feet) as civil defense officials struggled to pump out the water.

“We were looking at the radar thinking, 'Goodness, if this hits, then it’s going to be cataclysmic,'" Griffiths said of the storm. "And indeed it was.”

The airport ended up needing 22 tankers with vacuum pumps to get water off its grounds. Griffiths acknowledged that taxiways flooded during the rains, though the airport's runways remained free of water to safely operate. Online videos of a FlyDubai flight landing with its reverse thrust spraying out water caught the world's attention.

“It looks dramatic, but it actually isn’t that dramatic,” Griffiths said.

Emirates, whose operations had been struggling since the storm Tuesday, had stopped travelers flying out of the UAE from checking into their flights as they tried to move out connecting passengers. Pilots and flight crews also had a hard time reaching the airport given the water on roadways.

But on Thursday, Emirates lifted that order to allow customers into the airport. That saw some 2,000 people come into Terminal 3, again sparking long lines, Griffiths said.

Others who arrived at the airport described hourslong waits to get their baggage, with some just giving up to head home or to whatever hotel would have them.

The UAE, a hereditarily ruled, autocratic nation on the Arabian Peninsula, typically sees little rainfall in its arid desert climate. However, a massive storm forecasters had been warning about for days blew through the country's seven sheikhdoms.

By the end of Tuesday, more than 142 millimeters (5.59 inches) of rainfall had soaked Dubai over 24 hours. An average year sees 94.7 millimeters (3.73 inches) of rain at Dubai International Airport. Other areas of the country saw even more precipitation.

Meanwhile, intense floods also have struck neighboring Oman in recent days. Authorities on Thursday raised the death toll from those storms to at least 21 killed.

The UAE's drainage systems quickly became overwhelmed Tuesday, flooding out neighborhoods, business districts and even portions of the 12-lane Sheikh Zayed Road highway running through Dubai.

The state-run WAM news agency called the rain “a historic weather event” that surpassed “anything documented since the start of data collection in 1949.”

In a message to the nation late Wednesday, Emirati leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the ruler of Abu Dhabi, said authorities would “quickly work on studying the condition of infrastructure throughout the UAE and to limit the damage caused.”

On Thursday, people waded through oil-slicked floodwater to reach cars earlier abandoned, checking to see if their engines still ran. Tanker trucks with vacuums began reaching some areas outside of Dubai's downtown core for the first time as well. Schools remain closed until next week.

Authorities have offered no overall damage or injury information from the floods, which killed at least one person.

However, at least one community saw the effects of the rainfall only get worse Thursday. Mudon, a development by the state-owned Dubai Properties, saw flooding in one neighborhood reach as much as 1 meter. Civil defense workers tried to pump the water out, but it was a struggle as people waded through the floodwater.

Residents of Mudon, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity given the UAE's strict laws governing speech, described putting together the equivalent of nearly $2,000 to get a tanker to the community Wednesday. They alleged the developers did nothing to help prior to that, even as they called and emailed. They also said a nearby sewage processing facility failed, bringing more water into their homes.

“A lot of people were in denial of how bad it was,” one homeowner said as civil defense officials waded through the water, bringing bottled water on a raft.

Dubai Holding, a state-owned company that has Dubai Properties as an arm, did not respond to questions. It's part of a wider nexus that U.S. diplomats have called “Dubai Inc.” — all properties overseen by the city-state's ruling family.

The flooding sparked speculation that the UAE's aggressive campaign of cloud seeding — flying small planes through clouds dispersing chemicals aimed at getting rain to fall — may have contributed to the deluge. But experts said the storm systems that produced the rain were forecast well in advance and that cloud seeding alone would not have caused such flooding.

Scientists also say climate change is responsible for more intense and more frequent extreme storms, droughts, floods and wildfires around the world. Dubai hosted the United Nations’ COP28 climate talks just last year.

Abu Dhabi’s state-linked newspaper The National in an editorial Thursday described the heavy rains as a warning to countries in the wider Persian Gulf region to “climate-proof their futures.”

“The scale of this task is more daunting than it appears even at first glance, because such changes involve changing the urban environment of a region that for as long as it has been inhabited, has experienced little but heat and sand,” the newspaper said.

Cloud seeding, although decades old, is still controversial in the weather community, mostly because it has been hard to prove that it does very much. No one reports the type of flooding that on Tuesday doused the UAE, which often deploys the technology in an attempt to squeeze every drop of moisture from a sky that usually gives less than 4 or 5 inches (10 to 13 centimeters) of rain a year.

“It's most certainly not cloud seeding,” said private meteorologist Ryan Maue, former chief scientist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “If that occurred with cloud seeding, they'd have water all the time. You can't create rain out of thin air per se and get 6 inches of water. That's akin to perpetual motion technology.”

Meteorologists and climate scientists said the extreme rainfall is akin to what the world expects with human-caused climate change, and one way to know for certain that it was not caused by tinkering with clouds is that it was forecast days in advance. Atmospheric science researcher Tomer Burg pointed to computer models that six days earlier forecast several inches of rain — the typical amount for an entire year in the UAE.

Three low-pressure systems formed a train of storms slowly moving along the jet stream — the river of air that moves weather systems — toward the Persian Gulf, said University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Michael Mann. Blaming cloud seeding ignores the forecasts and the cause, he said.

Many of the people pointing to cloud seeding are also climate change deniers who are trying to divert attention from what's really happening, Mann and other scientists said.

“When we talk about heavy rainfall, we need to talk about climate change. Focusing on cloud seeding is misleading,” said Imperial College of London climate scientist Friederike Otto, who heads a team that does rapid attribution of weather extremes to see if they were caused by global warming or not. “Rainfall is becoming much heavier around the world as the climate warms because a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture."

WHAT IS CLOUD SEEDING?

Clouds need tiny water or ice droplets called nuclei to make rain. The weather modification method uses planes and ground-based cannons to shoot particles into clouds making more nucleai, attracting moisture that falls as snow and rain. Usually silver iodide is used, but it can also be dry ice and other materials. The method, first pioneered in the 1940s, became popular in the U.S. West starting in the 1960s, mostly for snow.

It can’t create water from a clear sky — particles must be shot into a storm cloud that already holds moisture to get it to fall, or to fall more than it otherwise would naturally.

HOW EFFECTIVE IS IT?

A recent study of aerial seeding found a clear precipitation pattern on a radar that mirrored the seeding and offers evidence the method works. But exactly how effective it is remains unclear, scientists say.

The physics makes sense, but the results have been so small that scientists just can't agree on whether it is fair to say it really works, said Maue and Mann.

Atmospheric forces are so huge and so chaotic that technically cloud seeding “is way too small a scale to create what happened,” Maue said. Extra rainfall from cloud seeding would have been minimal, both said.

WHO USES IT?

Despite not knowing its efficacy, governments in drought-stricken regions like the U.S. West and the UAE are often willing to invest in technology like seeding in the hopes of getting even a small amount of water.

Utah estimates cloud seeding helped increase its water supply by 12% in 2018, according to an analysis by the state's Division of Water Resources. The analysis used estimates provided to them by the contractors paid to do the seeding.

Dozens of countries in Asia and the Middle East also use cloud seeding.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation spent $2.4 million last year on cloud seeding along the overtapped Colorado River. Utah recently increased its seeding budget by tenfold.

SO WHAT CAUSED THE DELUGE?

That part of the Middle East doesn't get many storms, but when it does, they are whoppers that dwarf what people in the United States are used to, Maue said.

Huge tropical storms like this “are not rare events for the Middle East,” said University of Reading meteorology professor Suzanne Gray. She cited a recent study analyzing nearly 100 such events over the southern Arabian Peninsula from 2000 to 2020, with most in March and April, including a March 2016 storm that dropped 9.4 inches (almost 24 centimeters) on Dubai in just a few hours.

The 2021 study said “a statistically significant increase in the (whopper storms) duration over southeast Arabian Peninsula has been found, suggesting that such extreme events may be even more impactful in a warming world.”

While cloud seeding can work around the margins, it doesn't do big things, scientists say.

“It’s maybe a little bit of a human conceit that, yeah, we can control the weather in like a Star Trek sense,” Maue, who was appointed to NOAA by then-President Donald Trump, said. "Maybe on long time scales, climate time scales, we’re affecting the atmosphere on long time scales. But when it comes to controlling individual rain storms, we are not anywhere close to that. And if we were capable of doing that, I think we would be capable of solving many more difficult problems than creating a rain shower over Dubai."

___

Borenstein reported from Washington, Peterson from Boulder, Colorado.

___

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

And some of them will be hypersexual "zombie cicadas" infected with a sexually transmitted fungus.

Around mid-May, the red-eyed cicadas of Brood XIX will emerge from their underground lairs. They are considered the largest periodical cicada group and come out every 13 years. As that brood disappears, Brood XIII will emerge. This group comes out every 17 years.

The 13-year Brood XIX, sometimes known as the "Great Southern Brood," will emerge across Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

The 17-year periodical cicadas in Brood XIII will be less widespread, emerging only in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and potentially Michigan.

What are zombie cicadas?

Some of Brood XIX is expected to surface with a fungus that turns them into hypersexual, frantically-mating zombies that spread the fungus like an STD and keep going until their genitals fall off, CBS News reports.

"The cicada continues to participate in normal activities, like it would if it was healthy," Matthew Kasson, an associate professor of Mycology and Forest Pathology at West Virginia University, said. "Like it tries to mate, it flies around, it walks on plants. Yet, a third of its body has been replaced by fungus. That's really kind of bizarre."

Kasson says the cicadas may be able to ignore the fungus because it produces an amphetamine that could give it stamina.

He explained that the fungus causes the cicadas to exhibit hypersexual behavior.

"Males for example, they'll continue to try and mate with females — unsuccessfully, because again, their back end is a fungus. But they'll also pretend to be females to get males to come to them. And that doubles the number of cicadas that an infected individual comes in contact with," he said.

How cicadas become infected

Both broods of the periodical cicadas can be infected by the fungal pathogen Massospora cicadina, according to Kasson.

After the cicadas emerge from the ground, they molt into adults. If they are infected with the fungus, the backside of their abdomens opens up, and a chalky, white plug erupts out, taking over their bodies and making their genitals fall off in the span of a week to 10 days.

Usually, male cicadas let out a loud humming sound to attract female cicadas, and the female flicks her wings to signal she wants to mate. But the fungus causes males to flick their wings like females to attract males and, in turn, infect them, Kasson explains.

The fungus Massospora cicadina produces spores on the cicadas. It is suspected that when they die, the spores absorb into the soil and infect other cicadas underground.

Are zombie cicadas dangerous?

Though the 'Cicada-geddon' is expected to bring trillions of red-eyed bugs out from the ground, only around 5% of them are expected to be infected with the fungus.

According to experts, cicadas, even the hypersexual fungus-riddled ones, are perfectly harmless to humans and animals.

Outside their loud singing being somewhat of a nuisance, cicadas pose no threat.

First, around mid-May, we’ll see Brood XIX emerge. Considered the largest periodical cicada group, they emerge every 13 years. As that group disappears, another group, Brood XIII, will emerge. This group resurfaces every 17 years.

“They overwhelm you with numbers,” Dr. Frank A. Hale, of the University of Tennessee’s Extension program, told NewsNation affiliate WKRN. Hale estimated that some areas may see up to a million cicadas per acre.

This is the first time since 1803 that Broods XIX and XIII will co-emerge, according to the University of Connecticut (though we last saw a 13-year brood and a 17-year brood emerge together in 2015).

So will you be among the lucky (or unlucky) who are infiltrated by the broods this year?

Like April’s solar eclipse and the latest report on who will get an early summer, it depends on where you live. 

Where will the cicadas appear?

Sometimes known as the Great Southern Brood, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign says cicadas of Brood XIX will emerge across Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. 

The 17-year periodical cicadas in Brood XIII will be less widespread, emerging only in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and potentially Michigan.

If you live near any of these states, you also have a fair chance of seeing a stray cicada or two. If you live in the West — say Utah or California — you’re likely spared from being bombarded by these bugs. 

In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, cicada broods are focused primarily in states along or east of the Mississippi River.

What should you expect from Broods XIX and XIII?

Brood XIX is expected to emerge in mid-May as the ground warms up, though experts say the group has already created countless boreholes in the red Georgia clay. They’ll be around for roughly a month. Brood XIII should emerge around the same time. 

Experts believe we’ll see around 1 million cicadas per acre. That could easily total hundreds of trillions, maybe quadrillions, University of Connecticut cicada expert John Cooley told The Associated Press. 

“Periodic cicadas don’t do subtle,” Cooley added.

Outside of hurting your ears with their singing or spattering you with their urine, cicadas are harmless to humans and pets.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

"Expect a lot of noise. So there are a lot of cicadas you can't miss it. If you're in one of the areas where they're emerging, they will literally cover the trees, there will be so many that you will be able to see you can't miss it. And it is loud," Reall said.

These black bugs with bulging eyes differ from their greener-tinged cousins that come out annually. They stay buried year after year, until they surface and take over a landscape, covering houses with shed exoskeletons and making the ground crunchy.

This spring, an unusual cicada double dose is about to invade a couple parts of the United States in what University of Connecticut cicada expert John Cooley called “cicada-geddon.” The last time these two broods came out together in 1803 Thomas Jefferson, who wrote about cicadas in his Garden Book but mistakenly called them locusts, was president.

"These are only found in the eastern United States. So there's about 15 states that we'll see brood 19, Missouri is one of them, probably the biggest state with the emergence, and then brood 13 is up in the Chicago area, Illinois and then a few states up there," Reall told NewsNation.

Crawling out from underground every 13 or 17 years, with a collective song as loud as jet engines, the periodical cicadas are nature’s kings of the calendar.

If you’re fascinated by the upcoming solar eclipse, the cicadas are weirder and bigger, said Georgia Tech biophysicist Saad Bhamla.

“We’ve got trillions of these amazing living organisms come out of the Earth, climb up on trees and it’s just a unique experience, a sight to behold,” Bhamla said. “It’s like an entire alien species living underneath our feet and then some prime number years they come out to say hello.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Severe weather stretched across much of the Gulf South with reports of damage from Texas to the Florida panhandle.

More than 30,000 homes and businesses were without power Wednesday night in Louisiana's St. Tammany Parish, where a tornado struck the city of Slidell, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of New Orleans. It ripped roofs off buildings and partially collapsed others in and around the city of about 28,000 people. Authorities said first responders had to rescue people trapped in one heavily damaged apartment building.

At a Wednesday night news conference, Slidell Mayor Greg Cromer estimated about 75 homes and businesses were damaged in the city. Parish President Mike Cooper said assessments were still underway, but he estimated that hundreds more homes were damaged outside the city.

Police video showed tree limbs littering the streets and flooded yards that resembled Louisiana swamps. Outside a McDonald’s restaurant, a car was on its side, power poles leaned toward the ground and large pieces of the restaurant’s trademark golden arches were strewn about.

“I’ve never talked to God so much before in my life,” Robin Marquez said after huddling with coworkers in a two-story building where the roof was ripped away and walls caved in.

There were no reports of deaths or critical injuries in Slidell. The National Weather Service said in a social media post Wednesday night that initial surveys of the damage indicate the area was hit by a category EF-1 tornado, with winds anywhere from 86 mph (138 kph) to 110 miles per hour (177 kph). More surveys and analyses were planned to confirm the twister's strength and path.

Close to 8 inches (20 centimeters) of rain fell in parts of New Orleans. It came as the system of pipes and pumps that drains the city dealt with problems with its power generating system, forcing workers to divert power from one area to another as needed.

“During intense rain, the mission sometimes shifts from keeping the streets dry to draining them as quickly as possible,” the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board, which operates the system, said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.

Hours after the rain ended, floodwaters lingered in some neighborhoods in New Orleans and in neighboring Jefferson Parish.

In Mississippi, the death of Shirley Wilson, 64, was attributed to the storm. Wilson had several medical conditions that required her to have access to an electric oxygen machine at all times, Scott County Sheriff Mike Lee said. When her home in the central Mississippi county lost power, her oxygen machine shut down. Emergency responders couldn't reach her until about 20 minutes after her grandchild called 911 early Wednesday, and she was pronounced dead.

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said 72 homes were damaged.

In Texas, several people were rescued from homes and vehicles early Wednesday morning when flooding inundated parts of Jasper County, near the Louisiana line, authorities said.

All major roads into Kirbyville, a Jasper County town of about 2,000 people, were shut down early Wednesday due to the flooding, the sheriff's office said. Shelters were being set up after about 50 people were displaced from their homes, Billy Ted Smith, the Jasper County emergency management coordinator, said. He estimated the displaced people came from about 20 flooded homes and said there had been around half a dozen people rescued from vehicles. He said no major injuries were reported.

In the Houston suburb of Katy, strong thunderstorms that passed through the area around 2 a.m. Wednesday collapsed part of the roof of a Firestone repair shop. Storms also damaged businesses and cars in a nearby strip mall, sending a large air conditioning unit that had been on the roof crashing to the parking lot, officials said.

No one was inside the repair shop, but employees were working at a nearby sports bar when the thunderstorms rolled through, Harris County Fire Marshal Laurie Christensen told reporters later Wednesday morning.

“We were blessed that no lives were lost,” Christensen said, adding that only minor injuries were reported.

Some of the damage in Katy had preliminarily been determined to have been caused by an EF-1 tornado with estimated maximum winds of around 90 mph (145 kph), National Weather Service meteorologist Bradley Brokamp said.

Photos posted on social media showed heavy damage to a church in Port Arthur, Texas, where city officials said they were also dealing with downed trees and powerlines.

In Mississippi, the sheriff sent out an urgent warning Wednesday to people in parts of Yazoo County, just northwest of Jackson, about a levee failure there. The sheriff's office called for the evacuation of one subdivision. County officials continued to monitor the levee, WAPT-TV reported.

___

This story has updated to correct the spelling of Mayor Greg Cromer's first name.

___

McGill reported from New Orleans. Associated Press journalists Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Jamie Stengle in Dallas; Michael Goldberg in Jackson, Mississippi; Juan Lozano in Houston; Sarah Brumfield in Silver Spring, Maryland; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Mississippi; and Julie Walker in New York contributed to this report.

Clouds are forecast for much of the eclipse route through the U.S. with some possible patches of clear skies in some spots, according to the latest forecast from the National Weather Service.

Northern New England into Canada is still the best bet to witness the eclipse, when the moon blocks out the sun for a few minutes and day turns into night.

Texas is likely to have the heaviest cloud cover. More concerning, the weather service is forecasting severe weather — tornadoes and hail — about the time of the eclipse for parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.

The forecast for the eclipse path has been fairly consistent for the past 10 days, said David Roth, a meteorologist with the weather service.

“Things aren't moving that fast,” he said Sunday.

The path of total darkness stretches from Mexico and Texas through Maine and parts of Canada.

Keep an eye on the clouds

At the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland on Sunday, weather service meteorologist Alexa Maines tried to reassure visitors that all was not lost. A warm front was due to bring in clouds Monday morning, but they could clear out by eclipse time. “Cloud cover is one of the trickiest things to forecast,” she said.

Eclipse weather expert Jay Anderson also thinks the eclipse could be visible from Dallas to Columbus through thin, high clouds. “Not the best conditions but tolerable,” Anderson, a retired Canadian meteorologist, said via email.

“South of Dallas, there is a lot of low cloud that will disappoint a lot of eclipse enthusiasts,” he said.

How can I see the solar eclipse if it’s cloudy or rained out?

You can still watch the total solar eclipse online.

Associated Press journalists will also bring live coverage of the eclipse from across the path, starting at 10 a.m. EDT with views from Mazatlán, Mexico, and other locations.

NASA will stream telescope views of the sun and on NASA TV starting at 1 p.m. EDT.

The Exploratorium museum, Time and Date and Slooh will also broadcast eclipse day views.

___

AP reporter Adithi Ramakrishnan contributed to this report.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.