A series of thunderstorms, slowly moving northeast at 10 mph, trained through the Janesville to Milton area. This round of an additional 1 to 4 inches brought the day's total to 6 to 10 inches based on WSR-88D Doppler radars.
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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 MKX wrote it up.
A series of thunderstorms, slowly moving northeast at 10 mph, trained through the Janesville to Milton area. This round of an additional 1 to 4 inches brought the day's total to 6 to 10 inches based on WSR-88D Doppler radars. The resultant flash flooding damaged the basement contents in about 70 homes, washed out some gravel shoulders on roads, and peeled back the pavement on a couple roads. Water levels on some area streets reached 3 to 4 feet. A 13-year old boy was injured in Janesville's Palmer Park after being swept into a culvert. He was under water for about 9 minutes. One Janesville home was destroyed when its basement wall collapsed. The surging waters busted out windows in several other homes. Another Janesville home was destroyed when one sidewall crumbled from the force of waist-high water. The Janesville Elks Club's parking lot sustained pavement damage. Nearby farm fields had water depths of 2 to 5 feet in low spots, with resultant damage to the corn crop. The synoptic reasons for this flooding can be found in the August 4th entry for flash flooding in Columbia Co.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Wisconsin in 1998Every state in 1998This day in weather historyWarnings in Wisconsin, August 1998
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: 5664603.