Flash Flood, Clay
- When
- May 23, 10:00 PM CST to May 24, 12:40 AM CST
- Where
- Clay County, Clay Center
- Coordinates
- 39.350, -97.165 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood in Kansas, May 23 to 24, 1997
9 inches of rain during the middle to late evening of the 23rd with many other sections of the county receiving 2 to 3 inches of rain. The heavy rain caused extensive flooding of lowlands with many roads flooded as well.
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
- None recorded
- 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 TOP wrote it up.
Clay Center received 4.9 inches of rain during the middle to late evening of the 23rd with many other sections of the county receiving 2 to 3 inches of rain. The heavy rain caused extensive flooding of lowlands with many roads flooded as well.
The radar
The Topeka radar (KTWX), 89 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 04:02 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 Flooding in Texas, May 23, 1997
- Cold in West Virginia, May 23, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Florida, May 23, 1997
- Cold in Ohio, May 23, 1997
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Oklahoma, May 23, 1997
- Flash Flood and Hail in Texas, May 23, 1997
- Flash Flood and Hail in Mississippi, May 23, 1997
- Flash Flood and Hail in Texas, May 23, 1997
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Alabama, May 23, 1997
- Flood in U.S. Virgin Islands, May 23, 1997
- Waterspout in Florida, May 23, 1997
- Funnel Cloud in Louisiana, May 23, 1997
More
Every storm in Kansas in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, May 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: 5592865.