Georgia, 2001

Flash Flood in Georgia, March 3, 2001

March 3, 2001 · NWS FFC · 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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
1
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 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 Atlanta, GA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 3, 9:45 PM EST, 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 3, 9:45 PM EST, 15 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
900 PM EST SAT MAR 3 2001

EQUIPMENT/SOFTWARE PROBLEMS OCCUR JUST WHEN THEY ARE NEEDED
COMPLICATING FACTORS AS USUAL.

AT ANY RATE...LOTS GOING ON THIS EVENING TO SAY THE LEAST. NEW WW47
TORNADO WATCH JUST ISSUED FOR THE EXTREME SOUTHERN PART OF FFC CWA
AND SOUTHWARD TO FL BORDER.  NONETHELESS...MAIN THREAT FOR FFC CWA
HAS NOT BEEN SEVERE WEATHER...BUT HEAVY RAIN.  SOME REPORTS OF
CREEKS RISING OUT OF THEIR BANKS IN UPSON COUNTY CAUSING A COUPLE OF
HOMES TO BE EVACUATED.

MAIN AREA OF PCPN MOVING THROUGH WESTERN PART OF CWA NOW...WITH
MAINLY ELEVATED CONVECTION NORTH OF CSG-MCN. MORE SIGNIFICANT
CONVECTION SOUTH OF CSG-MCN...AND EVEN THEN MAINLY SOUTH OF CWA.  AS
OF 9 PM...FFC HAS NOT ISSUED ANY SVR/TOR...AND HAVE NOT RECEIVED ANY
WIND DAMAGE OR HAIL REPORTS TO THIS POINT. QUICK LOOK AT MODELS
INDICATES THAT MAIN ACTIVITY WILL MOVE THROUGH CWA BETWEEN NOW AND
09Z...THEN DRY SLOT SHOULD TAKE OVER EXCEPT IN EXTREME NORTH BY 09Z.

WILL ISSUE NEW SET OF ZONES NOW TO GET WATCH OUT.  DO NOT PLAN ON
MAKING ANY OTHER CHANGES AT THIS TIME.  WILL LET FFA CONTINUE UNTIL
MIDNIGHT AND THEN RE-EVALUATE NEED TO EXTEND FFA FURTHER...WHICH AT
THIS POINT I AM INCLINED NOT TO DO...BUT WILL DECIDE ON THAT LATER.

.ATL...
GA...TORNADO WATCH EXTREME S PORTION OF CWA.
GA...FLASH FLOOD WATCH UNTIL MIDNIGHT EST WEST CENTRAL ZONES
     GAZ066>067...GAZ069...GAZ078>080...GAZ089>093...GAZ102>104.

RAB

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, Harris

When
March 3, 10:00 PM EST
Where
Harris County, 3 mi SE of Ellerslie
Deaths
1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by
EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates
32.736, -84.909 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The Harris county 911 center reported that thunderstorms dumped very heavy rainfall across the county. Rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches in a 6 hour period were common across much of the county. Around 10 pm EST a 19-year old male and an additional occupant tried to cross swollen Randall Creek near Georgia Highway 315 approximately 3 miles southeast of Ellerslie. The vehicle became stranded in the rising flood waters and the 19-year old male driver was overcome by the rising flood waters. The passenger was able to escape.

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.

EventDateAgeSexWhereKind
Flash Flood, Harris2001-03-0319MaleVehicle/Towed TrailerDirect

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 Georgia in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Georgia, March 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: 5238872.