Tropical Storm Bill: Heavy flooding poses 'serious threat' to Texans and Oklahomans

Texas and Oklahoma are bracing themselves for a tropical storm which will reach the southern USA states in the morning of 16 June.

Tropical Storm Bill will hit the two states with winds of up to 50mph and four to eight inches of rainfall.

The Harris County Emergency Management, Texas, has warned that "high winds and even tornadoes are possible" and added that the record rainfall that Texas and Oklahoma experienced in May could be exacerbated.

It said: "Already wet grounds mean that even a moderate amount of rain will likely cause street flooding. Bayous and rivers could go out of banks quickly creating a serious threat to life and property."

However, Dan Holley, operational and broadcast meteorologist for Weatherquest, told IBTimes UK that most of the rain has already been released: "I don't think it will get that bad to be honest. It's not got enough water left to move across before it reaches land.

"As soon as it reaches land, it's going to weaken when it moves into the mainland."

Holley added that it is only a "borderline" tropical storm, but echoed Harris County Emergency Management by stating that the real danger will be from flooding: "It'll only exacerbate the already saturated grounds, where in the last couple of weeks there have been dams that have collapsed because of the sheer volume of water that they have been trying to hold. It is the floods that are going to be the most problematic."

Houston was strongly affected by the recent floods and "it looks like it will be again", adds Holley.