Rain chances will increase in Brevard County on Election Day, but the bigger weather watch will be on a growing area of low pressure in the southwestern Caribbean Sea that is expected to become a hurricane Tuesday night and head for the Gulf Coast.

The National Hurricane Center reported Sunday that the slow-brewing disorganized system of showers will likely become a tropical storm and then a hurricane by Tuesday night, slowly pushing northward into the Gulf of Mexico. Several computer models show the storm — which will be named Rafael — possibly heading toward Louisiana, although that could change.

It will become the 18th named storm of the hurricane season, which ends later this month.

“It is a little early to tell, but what we can say right now is that there is a high chance of it becoming at least a tropical depression. Beyond that, time will tell on any sort of intensity,” said Brendan Schaper, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Melbourne.

Tropical storm warnings — along with statements about potential flooding — could be issued for nearby islands as the disorganized system comes together, Schaper said, adding that hurricane hunters are evaluating the building storm.

On Election Day, when residents across the county are expected to stand in lines to cast vote for president and other offices, there will be a good chance of rain.

“It looks like the temperatures will be in the mid-80s, maybe a touch warmer. There is a chance for rain, about 20 to 30 percent. It will also be a little gusty at times,” Schaper said.

More severe weather expected Monday as Oklahoma surveys damage from tornado-spawning storms that injured 11

More severe weather is expected in the Southern Plains Monday as residents in Oklahoma survey the destruction from tornado-spawning storms that injured at least 11 people and leveled homes over the weekend.

Severe thunderstorms will continue to sweep through the Southern Plains overnight and ramp up again Monday for northern Texas, western Arkansas, southwestern Missouri, and most of Oklahoma. Areas including Oklahoma City could see more twisters.

While the ongoing storms will eventually weaken Monday morning, severe weather conditions are expected to ramp up in parts of the region during the day and could last into the evening –– threatening many of the same areas that have been battered by tornadoes and flooding over the weekend.

“Scattered severe thunderstorms, associated with tornadoes, large hail, and wind damage, are likely on Monday and Monday night from the Southern Plains north northeastward into the Ozarks and mid Mississippi Valley,” the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) warned. “A few of the tornadoes could be strong.”

A lower warning of severe storms will spread from central and eastern Texas to western Illinois – including the cities of Dallas, Houston, Austin, and St. Louis – threatening damaging wind gusts, large hail and tornadoes, according to the SPC.

Heavy downpours could also inundate streets. More than 7 million people are under flood watches across northern Texas, most of Oklahoma, southeastern Kansas, northwestern Arkansas and southern Missouri.

At least five tornadoes, combined with intense flooding from heavy rainfall, ripped through parts of Oklahoma late Saturday into Sunday –– destroying homes and other structures.

Video of the damage from CNN affiliate KOCO shows cars overturned and whole houses shredded. The storms toppled telephone poles and snapped trees in half. Debris is scattered around impacted areas, including large pieces of wood and metal from buildings that were ripped apart.

Nearly 40 structures were destroyed in the Oklahoma City area, the Oklahoma City Fire Department said in a Facebook post. Another 43 structures sustained major damage, while 54 had minor damage.

At least 11 people were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, OCFD said Sunday night, adding that several others sustained minor injuries but declined to seek medical help.

Residents hide as storms damage homes

Katie Anderson, a resident in southeast Oklahoma City, told CNN affiliate KOKH that she woke up on Sunday to the sound of a severe storm alert from her phone –– what she initially thought was her alarm for church. She then quickly realized that there was debris hitting her house. Heavy rainfall from the storm had collapsed her roof in multiple places.

“Every single thing is replaceable, but people aren’t,” Anderson said. “For us to walk away with no injuries and absolutely no issues at all, that means way more to me than whether or not I have a couch of a roof.”

“It was the loudest that I’ve ever heard in my life,” Thomas Shaver, another Oklahoma City resident, told KOKH, describing a big boom that sounded like a train Sunday morning.

In the midst of the intense storm, Shaver told KOKH that he pulled his daughter and wife into one of the hallways in their house and started praying. He said that the bedrooms in his house are now gone –– along with part of the roof.

“A lot of damage to the cars and things but some things survived and we’re still able to get around so very grateful for that,” he told the outlet.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has issued an emergency declaration for six counties. Officials were working to ensure that polling stations across the state would have power ahead of the presidential election Tuesday, Stitt said in a news conference Sunday.

“We’ll advise the public if there’s any issue there with the polling stations and reroute people if need to,” the governor said. More than 16,000 electricity customers in Oklahoma and Texas were still without power Sunday night, according to PowerOutage.US.

Stitt warned that potential life-threatening conditions will move across the state. “Utility restoration is underway where conditions permit and the state is working closely with local partners to make sure Oklahomans have what they need,” he said in a post on X.

The five tornadoes the National Weather Service has confirmed so far include two believed to have been powerful EF-3 twisters, one in Harrah and another near Sooner Road in Cleveland and Oklahoma counties. Tornado strength is measured using the Enhanced Fujita Scale or EF Scale, which rates tornadoes from EF-0 to EF-5 based on estimated wind speeds and related damage.

Most of the tornadoes hit during the dark overnight hours, with residents waking up to splintered buildings and trails of debris.

Nighttime tornadoes are more than twice as deadly as daytime ones, research shows, since nocturnal tornadoes are difficult to spot in the darkness and those sleeping may not be aware that danger is near.

Police are asking people to avoid some roads in the area due to the damage.

First responders rescued two people trapped inside an overturned mobile home after the storms hit, according to the Oklahoma City Fire Department. They also responded to several vehicles that were flooded due to heavy rainfall, according to Douglas.

The University of Oklahoma told students and staff on its Norman campus to “Seek shelter NOW inside the building you are in. Move to lowest floor/interior.”

Nighttime tornadoes are more than twice as deadly as daytime ones, research shows. Nocturnal tornadoes are difficult to spot in the darkness and those sleeping may not be aware that danger is near.

National Weather Service teams are surveying the damage Sunday morning.

KOCO

There’s heightened concern over the tornado threat this week given how prolific a year it has been for twisters in the US. The number of tornadoes reported so far this year is the second-most on record, trailing only 2011’s 2,156.

Violent thunderstorms are most common in spring and summer, but a second surge of dangerous storms and tornadoes happens during fall and winter as cold air from the north often collides with warmer, moist air streaming out of the Gulf of Mexico.