Delaware, 2001

Flash Flood in Delaware, August 5, 2001

August 5, 2001 · NWS PHI · 1 event in 1 county or zone

m. m.

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
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 PHI wrote it up.

Nearly stationary thunderstorms with torrential downpours dropped a Doppler Radar estimated 3 to 4 inches of rain between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. EDT across extreme southwestern Sussex County. This produced flash flooding of smaller streams in the area. No serious injuries were reported.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 5, 1:44 PM EST, 3 hours 16 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 5, 1:44 PM EST, 3 hours 16 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
244 PM EDT SUN AUG 5 2001

SOME ISOLD CNVCTN POPPING UP ACRS XTRM SE NJ AND SRN DE. UNLESS
CNVCTN COVERS MORE AREA...WL NOT INCLUDE IN ERLY PD OF FCST BUT
ALLOW NOWCAST TO HANDLE SITUATION.

MEANWHILE...CONDITIONS SETTING UP FOR HEAT WAVE FOR THIS WEEK.  H5
RDG EBBS AND FLOWS INTO MID ATLC STATES THRU ABT TUE...THEN MOVS E
TWD THE MID ATLC REGION FOR MID WEEK THRU AT LEAST THE END OF THE
WK. THRU THE PERIOD...A WK S/W IS SUPPOSE TO MOV ACRS AREA BUT
WEAKENS ON TUE.  WL NOT MNTN ANY PRECIP WITH IT.  BASED ON LCL HEAT
INDEX PROGRAM...WL POST HEAT WATCH FOR URBANIZED AREAS FOR MON INTO
TUE.  PROSPECTS ARE THAT WARNINGS WL NEED TO BE ISSUED...POSSIBLY AT
FIRST FOR URBANIZED AREAS...THEN MORE WIDESPREAD AREAS FOR THE LATER
PART OF THE WEEK. INDICATIONS ARE THAT THU MAY BE THE HOTTEST DAY OF
THE HEAT WAVE.

WL NOT GO HOG WILD WITH ANY PRECIP CHANCES THRU WEEK.  WL HAVE TO
MAYBE GET CLOSE IN TO SEE WHERE ANY CNVCTN MAY FORM.

FCSTID = 14
MPO   63  89  66  89 /   0   0  10  10
ABE   66  90  69  92 /   0   0  10  10
RDG   66  90  69  92 /   0   0  10  10
PHL   70  93  74  96 /   0   0   0  10
12N   66  90  69  92 /   0   0  10  10
SMQ   67  92  70  93 /   0   0   0  10
TTN   67  92  70  93 /   0   0   0  10
MIV   67  92  70  93 /   0   0   0  10
ACY   71  85  73  92 /   0   0   0  10
ILG   67  92  70  93 /   0   0   0  10
DOV   67  92  70  93 /   0   0   0  10
GED   67  92  70  93 /   0   0   0  10
ESN   67  92  70  93 /   0   0   0  10

.PHI...
DE...HEAT WATCH FOR MONDAY THROUGH TUESDAY FOR ZONE DEZ001.
MD...NONE.
NJ...HEAT WATCH FOR MONDAY THROUGH TUESDAY FOR ZONES NJZ015...
     NJZ017>019.
PA...HEAT WATCH FOR MONDAY THROUGH TUESDAY FOR ZONES PAZ067>071.
MARINE...NONE.

JWH

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Sussex

When
August 5, 5:00 PM EST to 7:00 PM EST
Where
Sussex County, Southwest Portion
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
38.683, -75.339 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

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

More

Every storm in Delaware in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Delaware, August 2001

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: 5266689.