Hurricane Patricia was downgraded to a Category 3 storm as it crept towards the U.S.-Mexico border Friday night, but flash floods and torrential downpours are still a major concern for millions of people living along its path.
North and Central Texas cities struggled through multiple storm systems this week that resulted in mass flooding, flight delays, power outages, and rainfall totals near 13 inches. According to NBC Dallas-Fort Worth, numerous cars in Corsicana - located about 55 miles south of Dallas - were either stranded downtown or part of a 12-mile backup along Interstate 45.
"We're telling anybody who manages to get off the highway and into Corsicana to find a parking lot and spend the night in their car," Navarro County Judge H.M. Davenport told the Associated Press. "Nobody needs to be out there in the rain at night."
By 4 p.m. EST, more than 262 flights at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport were cancelled. The National Weather Service reported that 2.58 inches of rain fell at the airport on Thursday, breaking an Oct. 22 record set in 1908.
Hurricane Patricia - considered the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere - won't hammer the United States with 200 mph winds, but it will bring heavy rains to areas already coping with dangerously wet conditions.
According to the Weather Channel, "areas of rain and thunderstorms will spread across central to eastern sections of Texas, southeastern Oklahoma and into parts of northwest Louisiana and central Arkansas through Friday night. A separate weather disturbance moving through the southern tier of the U.S. will prolong the heavy rain threat into this weekend across those states."
The hurricane will lose steam as it moves upward through Mexican mountain ranges. Leftover circulation will move thorough Texas on Saturday and Sunday before engulfing the South by Monday, resulting in anywhere between six and 12 inches of rain in southern plain states.
"In addition, persistent onshore winds will bring some minor coastal flooding, high surf and dangerous rip currents through at least this weekend to the Texas and Louisiana coasts," the Weather Channel reported.