Flash Flood, Adams
- When
- March 1, 7:55 AM EST to March 2, 8:00 AM EST
- Where
- Adams County, Countywide
- Deaths
- 2 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $8.0 million
- Coordinates
- 38.846, -83.472 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood in Ohio, March 1 to 2, 1997
Estimated rainfall of 6 to 12 inches across the county in less than 36 hours caused area creeks and streams to rise out of their banks. Numerous roads were closed due to high water.
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
- 2
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $8.0 million
- 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 ILN wrote it up.
Estimated rainfall of 6 to 12 inches across the county in less than 36 hours caused area creeks and streams to rise out of their banks. Numerous roads were closed due to high water. Several rescue operations occurred. Five hundred homes were damaged beyond repair with 700 more having reparable damage. Two people were killed during this event. A boy was swept away while riding an all-terrain vehicle and a women was killed when her car was swept off a bridge along State Route 32 near Lawshe. Her husband survived by clinging to a tree.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
The people who died
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood, Adams | 1997-03-01 | 16 | Male | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Direct |
| Flash Flood, Adams | 1997-03-01 | 34 | Female | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Direct |
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
- Tornado in Arkansas, March 1, 1997
- Tornado in Arkansas, March 1, 1997
- Tornado in Arkansas, March 1, 1997
- Flood in Kentucky, March 1 to 6, 1997
- Tornado in Arkansas, March 1, 1997
- Tornadoes in Tennessee, March 1, 1997
- Tornado in Arkansas, March 1, 1997
- Flooding in Tennessee, March 1 to 11, 1997
- Tornado in Arkansas, March 1, 1997
- Tornadoes in Arkansas, March 1, 1997
- Tornadoes in Mississippi, March 1, 1997
- Flash Flood in Kentucky, March 1 to 2, 1997
More
Every storm in Ohio in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyWarnings in Ohio, March 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: 5596877.