Flash Flood in Alabama, January 7, 1998

Name: Flash Flood in Alabama, January 7, 1998
Start: 1998-01-07T07:00
End: 1998-01-07T11:00
Location: Alabama

January 7, 1998 · NWS MOB · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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

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The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $20,000
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.

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 149 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 12:59 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Choctaw

When: January 7, 7:00 AM CST to 11:00 AM CST
Where: Choctaw County, Countywide
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $20,000
Coordinates: 32.020, -88.263 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Three to five inches of rain caused extensive flooding and road closures throughout the county. Most of the roads that had to be closed were secondary dirt roads. One death was attributed to the flooding. Two persons were driving along a county road six miles east of Gilbertown. Their automobile became stranded near a bridge across Okatuppa Creek. The rapidly rising current flowing across the road washed the automobile into the creek. One of the passengers was able to swim to shore and the other drowned.

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, Choctaw	1998-01-07	32	Male	In Water	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

Every storm in Alabama in 1998 Every state in 1998 This day in weather history Warnings in Alabama, January 1998

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: 5628372.