The National Weather Service has issued severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for Providence County, Northern Rhode Island and parts of the East Bay. Forecasters say the storm is moving quickly, but residents may see a lot of rain very quickly.
Meteorologist Bill Simpson said an especially strong storm bloomed in the north-central part of the state.
“There’s a pretty good thunderstorm just over the Scituate reservoir,” said Dunham around 2pm this afternoon. “It’s not moving very fast and it could pick up a couple to three inches of rain within a relatively short period of time, so there could be some definite flash-flood potential.”
The flash flood warning is in place for southern parts of Providence county. That includes the capital city, Johnston and Pawtucket, as well as Cranston which regularly sees localized flood after heavy rains.
The storms could also bring nickel-sized hail, but the heaviest parts of the storm should be over by nighttime, said meteorologist Simpson.
“The activity for this evening should shift to the western part of Southern New England, so in the near-term Rhode Island’s kind of under the gun,” said Simpson.
However, less-severe storms are predicted to move in soon thereafter, with a chance of rains lasting through the weekend.
