Flash Flood, El Dorado
- When
- January 24, 7:00 PM PST to January 25, 5:00 AM PST
- Where
- El Dorado County, American River
- Property damage
- $5.0 million
- Coordinates
- 38.779, -120.525 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood in California, January 24 to 25, 1997
The return of rain to the Sierra Nevada caused another, larger, mudslide on US highway 50 at 2330 PST on the 24th near the town of White Hall. The slide was 800 feet wide and reached heights of 70 feet and contained a total of 500,000 cubic yards of earth.
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
- $5.0 million
- 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 STO wrote it up.
The return of rain to the Sierra Nevada caused another, larger, mudslide on US highway 50 at 2330 PST on the 24th near the town of White Hall. The slide was 800 feet wide and reached heights of 70 feet and contained a total of 500,000 cubic yards of earth. One home was destroyed in the slide. The south fork of the American River was temporarily dammed but broke through the slide slowly.
The radar
The Sacramento radar (KDAX), 105 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:01 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
- Tornado and Hail in Tennessee, January 24, 1997
- Tornado in Alabama, January 24, 1997
- Tornado in Tennessee, January 24, 1997
- Tornadoes in Kentucky, January 24, 1997
- Tornado in Tennessee, January 24, 1997
- Tornado in Tennessee, January 24, 1997
- Tornado in Tennessee, January 24, 1997
- Tornado in Tennessee, January 24, 1997
- Tornado in Tennessee, January 24, 1997
- Tornado in Tennessee, January 24, 1997
- Tornado in Tennessee, January 24, 1997
- Tornado in Tennessee, January 24, 1997
More
Every storm in California in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyWarnings in California, January 1997
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: 5590354.