Flash Flood, Van Buren
- When
- February 21, 8:00 AM EST to 7:59 PM EST
- Where
- Van Buren County, Lawton
- Coordinates
- 42.285, -86.306 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood in Michigan, February 21, 1997
5 to 4 inches of rainfall across the western Michigan area during the day of the 21st. Numerous roads and streets were flooded and quickly become impassable.
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 GRR wrote it up.
A series of convective storms dumped 1.5 to 4 inches of rainfall across the western Michigan area during the day of the 21st. Numerous roads and streets were flooded and quickly become impassable. Small creeks quickly filled to capacity and overflowed their banks. The rain continued into the following day creating some mainstem river flooding, reported in a separate flood entry.
The radar
The Grand Rapids radar (KGRR), 92 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 12:58 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
- Damaging Wind in Kentucky, February 21, 1997
- Tornadoes in Mississippi, February 21, 1997
- Tornado in South Carolina, February 21, 1997
- Rip Current in Florida, February 21, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Georgia, February 21, 1997
- Tornado in North Carolina, February 21, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Georgia, February 21, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Georgia, February 21, 1997
- Tornado in Georgia, February 21, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Tennessee, February 21, 1997
- Damaging Wind in South Carolina, February 21, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Missouri, February 21, 1997
More
Every storm in Michigan in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyWarnings in Michigan, February 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: 5588081.