The National Weather Service had 16 active flood alerts posted Wednesday morning, down from 20 a day earlier, but the geography of the threat has changed: the flooding fight has largely moved away from Virginia and Iowa and into a new corridor spanning South Dakota, Minnesota, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri and North Dakota.
The heaviest concentration of Flash Flood Warnings sits in northeastern South Dakota, where the Weather Service says slow-moving thunderstorms have dropped very heavy rainfall across Day County and surrounding areas. Warnings cover Clark, Codington, Day, Deuel, Grant, Roberts, Brown and Marshall counties, with forecasters warning that flooding of rivers, creeks, streams and other low-lying, flood-prone locations is “imminent or occurring.” Several of the South Dakota warnings were set to run until 8 a.m. CDT, though the Weather Service cautioned that follow-up warnings remain possible if storms continue to train over the same ground.
In Minnesota, warnings extend across Pine, Wilkin, West Otter Tail, East Otter Tail, Wadena and Grant counties, with a flash flood advisory also covering Burnett and Washburn counties just across the border in Wisconsin. That advisory, in effect until 10 a.m. CDT, specifically includes the Tribal Lands of the St. Croix Band and the Mille Lacs Band’s Hinckley and Lena Lake communities — a reminder that excessive rainfall this week has hit tribal infrastructure alongside county road networks.
Further south, the flooding threat has reached the Illinois River valley, with warnings posted for Cass, Fulton and Mason counties in Illinois. Kentucky and Missouri also carry active alerts, extending the flood zone from the Dakotas down through the Ohio and Mississippi River basins.
The pullback from 20 to 16 alerts continues a broader deescalation trend nationally, but it masks a geographic reset rather than a simple wind-down: the same wet pattern that soaked Virginia and pushed the Mississippi River higher through Iowa earlier this week has now organized new storm cells over the northern Plains and upper Midwest. The Weather Service says additional heavy rainfall could regenerate warnings in the same counties through the day.
Officials are repeating the same core warning that has applied all week: most flood deaths happen in vehicles, and drivers should turn around rather than cross flooded roads, particularly at night when high water is harder to see. The Weather Service is also urging residents in the newly affected Dakota and Minnesota counties to monitor updated forecasts, since additional Flash Flood Warnings could be issued as storms continue moving through the region.