Remnants of Francine soak South as flash flooding prompts water rescues in Alabama

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – It’s been four days since Hurricane Francine made landfall in Louisiana last Wednesday, but its remnants are still stubbornly swirling over parts of the Deep South, dropping several inches of rain and triggering ongoing flash flooding threats.

Widespread 24- to 36-hour rainfall totals reached 2-4 inches across central and northern Alabama, with some rain gauges in northern Alabama reporting 8 inches or more. As of Sunday morning, a gauge in Danville, Alabama, reported 11.11 inches of rain over the past week.

Water rescues were reported in parts of Alabama on Saturday. One such water rescue happened in Moulton, Alabama, where the Lawrence County Sheriff's Office swift-water rescue team had to rescue a female due to rising floodwaters.

"As the sun sets for the day, Sheriff Sanders would like to urge citizens to remain vigilant throughout the night. Flooded roadways will be hard to spot at night," the Lawrence County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post late Saturday afternoon.

With the slow-moving Francine remnants still drifting through the region, an additional 1-3 inches of rain is likely through Sunday, with isolated areas receiving 4 inches of additional rain.

Flood Watches span parts of the Florida Panhandle, southeastern Alabama and southwestern Georgia.

NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center has much of that region in a Level 2 out of 4 risk for flash flooding on Sunday.

Francine’s remnants are expected to slowly weaken throughout the day Sunday but could still produce enough lingering rainfall, especially with the several inches that have already fallen, to maintain that Level 2 flood risk across parts of the South.

The rainy weather will lighten but keep skies gray across the South into the early part of the workweek when attention will turn to another system looming off the Carolina coast that could undergo tropical development.