Floods and severe weather beset parts of the U.S. on Election Day – NBC News

Floods and severe weather beset parts of the U.S. on Election Day  NBC News

Flash flooding, heavy rainfall and tornadoes have forced election officials in three different regions across the United States to move polling locations, scrambling Election Day plans in hot-button races. At least 18 polling locations were moved across seven Florida counties — including Brevard, Highlands, Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee, Palm Beach and St. Lucie counties — after intense rainfall caused flash floods Monday and into Tuesday morning. Roads were impassable in several parts of the state’s Atlantic coast after a storm dumped as much as 22 inches of rain in 24 hours in a storm that “exceeded everyone’s expectations,” as one forecaster put it. Severe storms were moving across Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas overnight.

Forecasters issued a tornado watch that lasted until about 2:45 a.m. local time Tuesday. Forecasters were also predicting possible flash flooding in parts of Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi on Tuesday, as that storm system continued to travel east. A flood watch remained in effect in some parts of Florida, though rainfall rates were slowing. “Areas affected by catastrophic flooding remain extremely sensitive to any additional rainfall,” forecasters wrote in a Tuesday morning discussion. In Oklahoma, a tornado Sunday forced Cimarron County officials to change one of its polling locations. The tornado, which had peak winds of about 100 mph, snapped tree branches, damaged the roof of