Flash Flood, Montgomery
- When
- May 25, 9:00 PM EST to 10:59 PM EST
- Where
- Montgomery County, S Portion
- Coordinates
- 39.136, -77.204 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood in Maryland, May 25, 1997
Tropical moisture feeding along a south-moving cold front produced training thunderstorms over portions of the Washington metropolitan region during the late evening of the 25th. In general, between 3 and 4 inches of rain fell throughout the event, with at least 2 inches falling just prior to frontal passage around midnight.
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 LWX wrote it up.
Tropical moisture feeding along a south-moving cold front produced training thunderstorms over portions of the Washington metropolitan region during the late evening of the 25th. In general, between 3 and 4 inches of rain fell throughout the event, with at least 2 inches falling just prior to frontal passage around midnight. The rapid accumulation of water brought Rock Creek well out of its banks; portions of Beach Drive in Kensington were closed through the late morning on the 26th.
The radar
The Sterling radar (KLWX), 30 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:58 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
- Tornadoes and Hail in Oklahoma, May 25, 1997
- Tornado in Kansas, May 25, 1997
- Heavy Rain in Pennsylvania, May 25, 1997
- Tornadoes and Flash Flood in Texas, May 25, 1997
- Tornado in Maryland, May 25, 1997
- Tornado in Kansas, May 25, 1997
- Tornado in Kansas, May 25, 1997
- Flash Flood in Pennsylvania, May 25 to 26, 1997
- Tornado and Flash Flood in Virginia, May 25, 1997
- Flood in Ohio, May 25 to 26, 1997
- Flash Flood in Pennsylvania, May 25 to 26, 1997
- Tornadoes and Hail in Texas, May 25, 1997
More
Every storm in Maryland in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyWarnings in Maryland, 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: 5600267.