CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Rain has started to fall throughout West Virginia counties.

Less than two weeks after training thunderstorms caused flooding between Charleston and Huntington, residents are again bracing for high water.

“Roughly what we’re looking at is an average total across the state is two to three inches with some localized heavier amounts,” said John Peck, a Charleston-based National Weather Service meteorologist. “We are expecting some training of more substantial, heavier rain Saturday afternoon. The exact location of where that is going to occur is unclear, but likely somewhere between the Tri-State down into the southern coalfields.”

Light rain started Saturday morning, and is expected to stay mainly light through Saturday afternoon before heavier rain comes in overnight.

Forecasters have said that the rain would start in the southern coalfields before moving to northern areas, with the chance of coming back to the southern part of the state a second time.

“You’ll have the warm infection Saturday lifting north, so that will slowly lift north across the area. Then you’ll have the cold front crossing earlier Sunday morning and that will bring the additional shot of some heavier rain,” Peck said.

Peck says southern counties are not in a position to take on a lot of precipitation.

“It is the time of year when all the vegetation is inactive, soils are already relatively wet, especially across the southern coalfields where they saw between one to two inches in the last 96 hours or so. Those are even wetter down there than than they would typically be in February,” Peck said.

“The most substantial issues will be where that bigger stripe of rainfall happens to set up, and we’re still a little bit unclear exactly where it’s going to set up,” Peck said. “Envision moving this large amount of water over some of these smaller drainages that are not equipped to handle that kind of water. Some of these smaller creeks and streams that drain a larger area, those are going to be especially vulnerable to flooding as we pick up this rainfall.”

Peck says smaller channels will likely be causing a majority of the problems, but several state rivers could flood too.

“Once the skin layer of the soil saturates, all that turns off into runoff, and with our steep terrain, that runoff quickly gets down into the smaller channels and can cause flash flooding issues,” Peck said. “With the extended amount of precipitation falling across all these large basins, we’ll also see some river flooding as this water works down into the drainages.”

The National Weather Service has issued flood warnings for the Coal River at Tornado, the Tug Fork at Kermit and Williamson, the Guyandotte at Branchland, and the Little Sandy at Grayson. Those rivers will likely be above flood stage during the day Sunday.

Peck says drivers need to be cautious and not test any high water on roadways.

“It is a Saturday night, if people are out driving around, if they encounter a flood roadway, turn around and don’t drown,” Peck said. “With this amount of water coming in, it’s not just going to be the typical trouble spots, you could have some water in spots that people don’t usually see it in. People need to exercise extra precaution driving around in the dark.”

While the rain will pass later Sunday, flooding could still be an issue in some areas into early next week.

“The main issues Monday would be the water getting down into the main stems. We currently do have some forecast points along the Ohio River to go up into flood, and that would probably get there during the day on Monday, so potentially some backwater issues along the Ohio (River) Monday, maybe even into Tuesday,” Peck said.