Flash flood and severe thunderstorm warnings issued for parts of US

Severe thunderstorms are expected to bring damaging winds, heavy rain and flash flooding across parts of the Midwest, Great Lakes, Northeast and East Coast this week, forecasters said.

According to AccuWeather, storms are expected to develop on Sunday evening before spreading across the Great Lakes overnight, fuelled by hot and humid conditions along the edge of a heat dome covering parts of the Plains.

AccuWeather meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said the system could produce heavy rain and "wide swaths of damaging wind gusts" of up to 85mph.

"Day-to-day thunderstorm activity can sometimes rely on where previous rounds of thunderstorms develop, which makes pinning down the exact location of the highest risk for severe weather difficult until just a matter of hours before storms form”, Buckingham added.

The National Weather Service said the storms could bring fallen tree branches, power outages, lightning and torrential rain on Monday, with severe weather later spreading into the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, including along the Interstate 95 corridor.

Forecasters warned that prolonged rainfall could increase the risk of flash flooding from Buffalo to Boston through Tuesday, with additional flooding possible in parts of New England on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the National Weather Service said dangerous heat is expected across the central and southern United States, with temperatures reaching the upper 90s and low 100s and heat index values as high as 115F in some areas.