Flash Flood, Kent
- When
- May 20, 7:00 PM EST to May 21, 6:00 AM EST
- Where
- Kent County, Grand Rapids
- Property damage
- $10,000
- Coordinates
- 43.032, -85.549 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood in Michigan, May 20 to 21, 1996
5 inches in the Grand Rapids metropolitan area caused extensive street flooding, basement flooding, and sewer overflows into the Grand River. 00 inches from 1911.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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
- $10,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
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 GRR wrote it up.
Afternoon and evening rains totaling 3 to 3.5 inches in the Grand Rapids metropolitan area caused extensive street flooding, basement flooding, and sewer overflows into the Grand River. At Kent County Airport the rain total was 3.39 inches for May 20, setting a new 24-hour record for that date, surpassing the previous record of 3.00 inches from 1911.
The radar
The Grand Rapids radar (KGRR), 15 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:00 UTC.
Event by event
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Flash Flood
- Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Flash Flood in Michigan, May 20 to 21, 1996
- Lightning Strike in Vermont, May 20, 1996
- Damaging Wind in New York, May 20, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Vermont, May 20, 1996
- Damaging Wind in New York, May 20, 1996
- Damaging Wind in New York, May 20, 1996
- Lightning Strike in Michigan, May 20, 1996
- Heat in New Jersey, May 20, 1996
- Lightning Strike in New York, May 20, 1996
- Damaging Wind in New York, May 20, 1996
- Damaging Wind in New York, May 20, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Vermont, May 20, 1996
More
Every storm in Michigan in 1996Every state in 1996This day in weather historyWarnings in Michigan, 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: 5555351.