Flood, Wabash
- When
- May 1, 12:01 AM CST to May 31, 11:59 PM CST
- Where
- Wabash forecast zone
- Property damage
- $1.0 million
- Coordinates
- 38.446, -87.844 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flooding in Illinois, May 1 to 31, 1996
The Wabash River was above flood stage for most of the month at New Harmony, Indiana. 9 feet on May 7, well above the 15 foot flood stage.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $1.0 million
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 2
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS PAH wrote it up.
The Wabash River was above flood stage for most of the month at New Harmony, Indiana. The river crested at 20.9 feet on May 7, well above the 15 foot flood stage. A 9-mile long earthen levee protecting bottomland farm fields was breached about when the river crested. This resulted in an additional 5,000 acres of cropland being flooded near Grayville. The river was reported to be 3 miles wide at the Interstate 64 bridge. The Hocking-Heil levee in Wabash County was breached. Both Wabash and White Counties were declared federal disaster areas as a result of the combination of flash flooding and river flooding. A man suffered a fatal heart attack while boating along a flooded county road to his house south of Grayville. Total flood-related damage in May was estimated to be 450,000 dollars in White County. The damage figure listed above is for all flooding in White and Wabash Counties, and not just river flooding.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
2 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Flood, White
- When
- May 1, 12:01 AM CST to May 31, 11:59 PM CST
- Where
- White forecast zone
- Coordinates
- 38.088, -88.180 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
What these are
- Flood
- Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Drought in Texas, May 1 to 31, 1996
- Cold in Iowa, May 1 to 31, 1996
- Drought in Texas, May 1 to 31, 1996
- Drought in Texas, May 1 to 31, 1996
- Drought in Texas, May 1 to 31, 1996
- Drought in Louisiana, May 1 to 31, 1996
- Tornado in Ohio, May 1, 1996
- Wildfire in California, May 1 to 3, 1996
- Flooding in Indiana, May 1 to 26, 1996
- Flooding in Indiana, May 1 to 20, 1996
- Flood in Illinois, May 1 to 26, 1996
- Flooding in Missouri, May 1 to 31, 1996
More
Every storm in Illinois in 1996Every state in 1996This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, May 1996
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5554993, 5554994.