Wildfires spread in the West, flash flooding forecast in Texas

There are now 14 large uncontained wildfires burning in the West.

September 17, 2019, 10:00 AM

There are now 14 large uncontained wildfires burning in the West, not including smaller fires that broke out yesterday.

One of them, the Francis Fire in Davis County, Utah burned up to 200 acres and there were mandatory evacuations for residents in the area, though those have since been lifted since yesterday evening.

Today, the cold front that caused all the gusty winds that helped to spread the fire in Utah will continue to move through the West today producing more gusty winds 20 to 60 mph.

There are still Red Flag Warnings this morning and also high wind warnings from Utah to Wyoming.

Elsewhere, a tropical disturbance in the western Gulf of Mexico will bring very heavy rain to eastern Texas from Houston to just east of Dallas.

The heavy rain will begin this afternoon and the round of heavy rain will continue into Thursday.

Some areas are expected to see up to 10 inches of rain, especially in Houston, Galveston and up to the Lufkin, Texas area where flash flooding is forecast later today.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Humberto is moving away from the U.S. but will continue to bring high surf and dangerous rip currents from the Mid-Atlantic to the Carolinas and down to Florida where the waves could be as high as 11 feet.

As Humberto moves east it will pass to the north of Bermuda brining gusty winds and heavy rain to the island where a Tropical Storm Watch has been issued for them.

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