station, wjla, meteorologist steve rudin. steve, good morning. >> great to be here. lot to talk about on this last day of meteorological spring. look at this. a tornado, ree heights, south dakota. that was yesterday. didn't amount to a whole lot. and didn't cause a whole lot of damage. but strong storms likely as they move through the afternoon and overnight hours tonight. billings, rapid city, denver, all under a slight risk for severe storms, with gusty winds and localized tornadoes. head up to the upper midwest, looking at heavy rain and a round of severe storms later on today, even into the day tomorrow. but look at these impressive rainfall amounts. international falls could see upwards of two to three inches of rain by the time this system finally moves out of here. and just what they don't need across the gulf coast, more rain. houston, looking at a record-breaking month for rain. the highest amount of rain so far this year. and looking at about 12 inches. that's what they had so far for the month. looking at the video outside of tampa earlier yesterday. a wea

so let's get to janet with our cnn affiliate wjla. she has details. >> reporter: the rain has stopped for now but it's too little too late for what's going on here. the current situation. take a look behind me. this is route one in laurel. look at the water levels here. this has been going on for the past several hours. i also want you to see right across the street there's a car dealership here. you see the cars parked. and that should give you an idea of how high these water levels are. a little over the halfway mark on those tires. evacuations currently under way because of this. everyone in the surrounding area is being asked to leave over 100 residents are already being sheltered at the robert j. community center. hundreds more are expected. but i want to explain why this is going on. it is due to the rainfall but it's indirectly. officials say they were forced to open the dam because of the rainfall and the levels. and so all seven gates are open indefinitely. evacuations are mandatory. it is not an option. of course, it is for