A large area of western Kimball County received in excess of 5 inches of rain in less than 5 hours, with the remainder of the county and western Cheyenne County averaging more than 2 inches. The maximum rainfall reported was 7.
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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.
The episode as NWS CYS wrote it up.
A large area of western Kimball County received in excess of 5 inches of rain in less than 5 hours, with the remainder of the county and western Cheyenne County averaging more than 2 inches. The maximum rainfall reported was 7. 5 inches in the southwest corner of the county. Cropland flooding was widespread throughout both counties, and Lodgepole Creek spilled out of its banks from Bushnell in western Kimball County to Lodgepole in extreme eastern Cheyenne County, affecting several communities. Two bridges were washed out along Lodgepole Creek--one on a county road north of Dix in eastern Kimball County, and the second on Highway 30 outside of Potter in western Cheyenne County. While flood waters were reported in Bushnell and Lodgepole, the most severe occurred in Potter, where 4 feet of water inundated numerous homes and businesses, washing away a dozen large propane tanks and washing out 30 feet of Union Pacific Railroad track serving as a dike on Lodgepole Creek. Numerous county roads in both counties were damaged or washed out, and more than 80 miles of farmland along Lodgepole Creek and Sand Draw were covered with several feet of flood water.
The Cheyenne radar (KCYS), 75 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:47 UTC.
2 hail, 2 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Ping Pong ball sized hail fell in southwest Kimball County.
A series of thunderstorms produced in excess of 7.5 inches of rain over parts of western Kimball County during a 5-hour time frame. Flooding occurred along Lodgepole Creek from Bushnell east to the county line.
A second storm dumped Ping Pong ball sized hail and very heavy rain within 2 miles of the location that received 1.5 inch hail an hour earlier.
Widespread flooding occurred along Lodgepole Creek and Sand Draw from heavy rains upstream in Kimball County. A 7 foot wall of water washed out a 30 foot section of a bridge on U.S. Highway 30 at Potter at 430 am MST.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyWarnings in Nebraska, May 1997
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: 5601517, 5601516, 5601518, 5601519.