Flash Flood, Sacramento
- When
- January 26, 2:00 AM PST to 5:00 AM PST
- Where
- Sacramento County, Sacramento
- Property damage
- $500,000
- Coordinates
- 38.449, -121.344 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood in California, January 26, 1997
Heavy showers and thunderstorms moved over the metro area, re-flooding the neighborhoods surrounding Chicken Ranch Slough, which had just experienced flooding the previous 22nd. The flooding was higher and caused additional damage to 500 more homes.
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
- $500,000
- 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 STO wrote it up.
Heavy showers and thunderstorms moved over the metro area, re-flooding the neighborhoods surrounding Chicken Ranch Slough, which had just experienced flooding the previous 22nd. The flooding was higher and caused additional damage to 500 more homes.
The radar
The Sacramento radar (KDAX), 30 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 09:58 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
- Winter Storm in Illinois, January 26 to 27, 1997
- Flash Flood in California, January 26, 1997
- Heavy Snow in Colorado, January 26 to 27, 1997
- High Wind in Wyoming, January 26, 1997
- Flash Flooding in California, January 26, 1997
- Heavy Snow in Idaho, January 26, 1997
- High Wind in Alaska, January 26 to 27, 1997
- Heavy Snow in Pennsylvania, January 26 to 28, 1997
- Flash Flood in Pennsylvania, January 26, 1997
- Flash Flood in California, January 26, 1997
- Flash Flood in California, January 26, 1997
- Flood in Ohio, January 26 to 29, 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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5590347.