Name: Flash Flood in Illinois, July 26, 2001
Start: 2001-07-26T02:00
End: 2001-07-26T05:00
Location: Illinois

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: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $25,000
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.

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 Paducah, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 26, 1:15 AM CST, 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 26, 1:15 AM CST, 45 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
215 AM CDT THU JUL 26 2001

LATEST IR PICS SHOW ENHANCED CLOUDS OVER NW KY...WITHIN AXIS OF
850MB THETA-E 352 K RIDGE. THIS IS JUST AHEAD OF SURFACE COLD
FRONT...WHICH IS GRADUALLY SINKING SOUTH AND TAPPING WARM SOUPY AIR
OVER PAH FA AS STRONG VORT IS WORKING ITS WAY ACROSS SCNTL IL. NOTE
CONVECTION EXTENDS ALONG/AHEAD OF FRONT WESTWARD ACROSS MO...AND SO
ANTICIPATE CONT SCT-NUMEROUS TSMS DEVELOPING ACROSS PAH FA THIS AM
AS FRONT CONTS TO MOVE IN. PRIMARY THREAT WL REMAIN LOCALLY +RA WITH
SOUNDINGS STILL SHOWING PWS IN EXCESS OF 2".

WHICH MODEL TO BUY IN REGARDS TO FRONTAL FCST IS PRIMARY
CHALLENGE...AND WE CONTINUE TO BELIEVE THAT AVN IS TOO AGGRESSIVE IN
ITS SWARD PUSH OF FRONT GIVEN THE PAST SEVERAL DAYS TRENDS TOWARD
THE SLOWER ETA. WL CONT THAT THINKING WITH THIS PACKAGE...WHICH
LEADS TO THE FRONT STALLING OUT ALONG/JUST SOUTH OF FA
FRI...RETURNING NWARD AS WARM FRONT FRI NIGHT-SAT. THIS WL
RE-INTRODUCE CHC PCPN AND LIKEWISE RESULT IN NOT QUITE THE COOL-OFF
THAT THE AVN BASED GUIDANCE HAS SUGGESTED.

.PAH...NONE.
DH

The radar

The Paducah radar (KPAH), 36 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 07:58 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Pulaski

When: July 26, 2:00 AM CST to 5:00 AM CST
Where: Pulaski County, Olmsted
Property damage: $25,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 37.223, -89.127 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Slow-moving thunderstorms dumped torrential rains over Pulaski County. An engineer with the county highway department measured 3.5 inches of rain during the early morning hours. Rushing floodwater blocked Illinois Route 37 in two places for more than 4 hours near Olmsted and just south of America Road. An Olmsted convenience store was flooded by 5 inches of water. More than 20 county roads were closed. Four culverts were washed away by erosion and fast-moving debris. The hardest hit areas were in the central parts of the county, between New Grand Chain and America. Heavy rain damaged the roof of the Olmsted library and leaked into the building, damaging books.

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 Illinois in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Illinois, July 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: 5257352.