Dangerous, potentially historic flooding to hit from Arkansas to Ohio this week

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(NEW YORK) — A dangerous and potentially historic flooding event is bearing down on 22 million Americans from Arkansas to Ohio, and residents are urged to prepare now.

The life-threatening flooding will likely hit from Wednesday night through Sunday morning, with multiple rounds of heavy rain pounding the same spots over the course of the week.

Twelve to 18 inches of rainfall is forecast for the bull’s-eye of the storm, which spans from Little Rock, Arkansas, to the Arkansas-Missouri border, to Louisville Kentucky, to Evansville, Indiana.

Residents are urged to avoid flooded roads and be prepared for power outages.

Before the flooding moves in, severe storms are heading to the Heartland.

Damaging winds, hail and tornadoes are in the forecast Tuesday night from central Oklahoma to central Kansas.

On Wednesday and Wednesday night, the hail, wind and strong tornadoes could stretch from Chicago to St. Louis to Indianapolis to Louisville to Little Rock.

On the north side of the storm, heavy snow is expected across northern Minnesota. Six to 12 inches of snow could fall from Tuesday night to Wednesday night, along with wind gusts up to 40 mph.

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