Warning over biblical flooding set to thrash US as 3-year-old becomes latest victim to drown
At least six people are dead, including a three-year-old child, after a biblical flash flood swept through West Virginia.
The storm struck Ohio County Saturday night, dropping a shocking four inches of rain in just 30 minutes, trapping residents in cars and homes immediately as the storm began.
The flooding continued into Sunday in Ohio County, with Wheeling Creek rising seven feet in under two hours.
Residents captured the devastation of the flooding as it turned entire roadways into fast-moving rivers and caused local apartment buildings to collapse.
At least two people are still missing, according to officials with Wheeling-Ohio County Emergency Management.
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey said: 'Our top priority right now is search and rescue. There are still people unaccounted for. Stay off the roads so crews can work quickly and safely.'
AccuWeather meteorologist Chad Merrill told DailyMail.com on Monday that the area could see even more flooding throughout the week.
The same system that caused Ohio County's floods to rage out of control has stalled over the region and is not expected to break up until Thursday.
Merrill added that the lightning-quick flood was 'a unique event' that resulted from a perfect storm of weather and unfortunate weather conditions.
As for how West Virginians were caught so off guard by the flash floods, Merrill revealed that 'the event was forecasted, but the magnitude was not captured very well.'
'We did have an abnormally dynamic final warming event in the stratosphere in March that led to the collapse of the polar vortex for the season, and the ripple effect has been felt across the US in these abnormal weather trends,' Merrill explained.
AccuWeather's senior meteorologist noted that all of that will begin to change next week as 'dry weather and dangerous heat return to the East.'
Facebook has even sent an urgent notification to residents in West Virginia and neighboring Ohio, asking people in the flood zone to mark themselves as 'safe' online if they are not in danger.
Merrill added that the persistently cooler temperatures many states have been experiencing into June will likely end after this new system moves in.
Over the weekend, vehicles were swept into swollen creeks while some people sought safety in trees. A mobile home was even seen catching fire.
Nearby Fairmont experienced severe flooding on Sunday afternoon, which destroyed an apartment building and forced the evacuation of the residents.
Around 2,500 power outages were reported in northern West Virginia on Sunday.
As for the deadly flash flood that drenched Wheeling in just 30 minutes, the weather expert detailed how all of the right circumstances had to come together to produce this downpour.
First, the amount of water in the atmosphere over West Virginia was 170 percent above normal, meaning it was holding nearly double the average for mid-June.
Although forecasters said there was only about 1.8 inches of rain in the atmosphere, two major factors threw this total off entirely.
One was a low-pressure system pushing through West Virginia. This added to the rising motion of the air and the air lifting over the hills in northern West Virginia.
Those conditions allowed the atmosphere to squeeze out even more water than meteorologists predicted before the storm began.
Morrisey has declared a state of emergency in Ohio and Marion counties as emergency crews had to conduct 19 swift water rescues during the flash floods.
Merrill warned that, even as the summer heat approaches, West Virginia isn't out of the woods yet.
That low-pressure system that exacerbated the flooding over the weekend remains stalled over the state.
'It will be the focal point for additional flooding problems until the pattern finally breaks following the passage of a cold front on Thursday,' Merrill forecasted.
To protect themselves during flash floods, Merrill urged Americans to move to higher ground when the rain begins.
If you're driving and arrive at a flooded roadway, don't drive through it. The meteorologist warned that the water is usually deeper than it appears, which could leave you trapped if the car stalls or is swept away by rising flood waters.
The best thing to do in this situation is to turn around and attempt to find an alternate route.
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