More than six million people face Flood Watches as Hurricane Simon's Pacific moisture fuels torrential storms from Texas to West Virginia, with Oklahoma City under elevated flash-flood risk.
Torrential rain already slammed parts of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas on Tuesday, and the threat only grew overnight. FOX Weather reported that more than 6 million people across the Southern Plains and Midwest woke up Wednesday under a Flood Watch as tropically enhanced storms kept dumping heavy rain.
A 1,500-mile corridor of thunderstorms stretched from Texas’ Big Bend region all the way to Morgantown, West Virginia. More than 35 million people sat in the path of storms capable of pouring 1 to 2 inches of rain per hour.
Central Oklahoma, including Oklahoma City, stood in the bull’s-eye. Forecasters put a Level 3 out of 4 risk of flash flooding in effect there, with more than 5 inches of rain possible through Thursday morning.
Hurricane Simon was churning in the Pacific off the coast of western Mexico, more than 1,000 miles from the hardest-hit U.S. counties. That distance did not stop its moisture from reshaping weather across the heartland.
A large dip in the jet stream funneled tropical moisture north and enhanced storms across parts of the Central U.S. and Ohio Valley through Thursday. Simon had peaked as a Category 4 storm over the weekend, then restrengthened into a Category 2 while meandering slowly just off the Mexican coast.
The storm continued to dump torrential rain on Mexico and threatened more life-threatening flash flooding and landslides. The Mexican government reported that rain tied to Simon caused several rockslides in Guerrero state and neighboring states late last week. A landslide hit Acapulco on October 10, 2026.
Simon was expected to finally come ashore sometime Friday or Saturday.
Tropically enhanced thunderstorms slammed Kansas City, Missouri, with torrential rain on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026. Storms also rolled through Wichita, Kansas, the same day.
That first round of heavy rain left parts of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas under a Flood Watch. By Wednesday the broader flash-flood threat covered a long list of states and regions: West Texas and the Panhandle, Oklahoma, southeastern Kansas, southern Missouri, northern Arkansas, southern Illinois, southern Indiana, southern Ohio, western West Virginia, western Kentucky, and northwestern Tennessee.
Most of that footprint carried a Level 2 out of 4 flash flood threat. Central Oklahoma remained the clear exception at Level 3.
Flooding was not the only hazard. Parts of West Texas, the Texas Panhandle, and Oklahoma faced a Level 2 out of 5 risk of severe thunderstorms beginning Wednesday afternoon. Damaging wind gusts were the main severe threat in that setup.
On Thursday the wet pattern was forecast to shift northeast into the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes, with repeated rounds of rainfall expected there. The multi-day soak left communities watching creeks, low-water crossings, and urban drainages that fill fast when rain falls at an inch or two per hour.
Not every drop spelled trouble. Rain stood to benefit areas of Oklahoma, southern Missouri, and Texas stuck in persistent extreme to exceptional drought. Dry soils can absorb a useful first wave of moisture.
They can also shed water quickly once they crust or saturate, which is why flash-flood risk still climbed even in drought country. The same system that eases parched fields can overrun culverts and turn underpasses into traps within minutes when rates hit 1 to 2 inches an hour.
No U.S. injury, death, or damage totals were reported in the initial account of the Tuesday-Wednesday rains. The watches and risk levels were the clear signal that local officials wanted people off flooded roads and out of swollen drainage channels while the heaviest bands moved through.
When a Pacific hurricane can soak the Plains from more than a thousand miles away, preparation beats hope, watch the sky, respect the water, and keep the family off the road until the runoff drops.
