Flash Flooding in Indiana, December 17, 2001

Name: Flash Flooding in Indiana, December 17, 2001
Start: 2001-12-17T03:30
End: 2001-12-17T17:00
Location: Indiana

December 17, 2001 · NWS LMK · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

Several roads were impassable in the Huntingburg area of Dubois County, along with the French Lick area of Orange County. Roads were flooded countywide in Orange County.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 4 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: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 4

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 LMK wrote it up.

Several roads were impassable in the Huntingburg area of Dubois County, along with the French Lick area of Orange County. Roads were flooded countywide in Orange County. Weber Road near Sellersburg in Clark County was closed due to high water.

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 Louisville, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 17, 1:20 AM EST, 2 hours 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 17, 1:20 AM EST, 2 hours 10 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
120 AM EST MON DEC 17 2001

...MORE SIG RAIN FOR SRN IN/NRN KY TODAY...

WILL GENERALLY FOLLOW MESO-ETA FOR THIS MORNINGS FCST...WITH BETTER
REPRESENTATION OF SFC/MID-LEVEL LOW OVER AR/TX. SRN IN COUNTIES
COULD SEE SIG FLOODING TODAY...AS RADAR ALREADY INDICATING 2-3
FALLEN. SFC LOW OVER ARK WILL MIGRATE NE ALONG WARM-FRONT TYPE
BAROCLINIC ZONE ALIGNED NEAR OHIO-RIVER VALLEY. CONTINUED UPGLIDE ALONG
300K SFC THRU 15Z/MON...COUPLED WITH SIG 850MB WARM QG FRONTOGENESIS
OVER NRN PARTS OF CWA. 300K MIXING RATIOS ABOVE 8 G/KG THRU 18Z...SO
HEAVY RAIN THREAT WILL CONTINUE TIL THEN. BEST RAINS WILL OCCUR
ALONG/NORTH OF OHIO-RIVER NEAR STRONGEST BAROCLINICITY...WITH
SCATTERED WAA SHOWERS SE. 700MB OMEGAS SUGGEST HEAVIEST RAINS WILL
FALL SRN IN/KSDF AREA AROUND 12Z-15Z...WITH LEX/BWG AREAS TOWARDS
18Z/MON. LOW/MID-LEVEL LAPSE RATES NEAR 6C/KM...AND SFC BASED LIS
BELOW ZERO IN SRN/ERN ZONES THIS AFTERNOON...SOME THUNDER POSSIBLE.
WILL CONTINUE FLOOD WATCH THRU 2045Z...APPROX ALNG/WEST OF BWG-LEX
LINE...THOUGH FEEL SRN IN HAS BEST POTENTIAL FOR SIG FLOODING.
CONTINUED SFC WAA WITH CLOUDS/PRECIP SHOULD KEEP TEMPS NEAR CURRENT
LEVELS...WITH ACROSS FRONT DELTA-TS ABOUT 5-10 DEG.
TONITE...LEFT-EXIT REGION OF 120K 300MB JET WILL AIDE IN SOME EARLY
EVE SHOWERS...BUT AS FEATURE MOVES EAST SHRA WILL DIMINISH BY
6Z-9Z/TUE. STILL SOME GOOD RAINFALL AMOUNTS POSS SINCE 300K MIXING
RATIOS REMAIN ABV 4 G/KG. CLOUDS TO REMAIN THRU MOST OF NIGHT AS PER
TIME-HEIGHT SECTIONS...PARTIAL CLEARING BY DAYBREAK TUE. MINIMA
MODULATED BY CLOUDS...GENERALLY MID 30S NW TO NEAR 40 SE. MID-LEVEL
SHORT-WAVE RIDGING OVER CWA FOR TUE...WITH 850MB TEMPS DROPPING 2-4C
FROM 0Z/TUE TO 0Z/WED. GIVEN MOSTLY SUNNY FCST WITH WEAK 300K
DOWNGLIDE REGIME...ILL GO A FEW ABOVE MAV GUIDANCE MAXIMA...AS
LOW-LEVEL THERMAL TROUGH IS EAST OF CWA BY TUE PM.
12Z-18Z/WED...ANOTHER MID-LEVEL WAVE AND ASSOC SFC TROUGH PASS THRU
CWA. BASED ON 300K/850-500MB RH FIELDS AND INSTABILITIES...BEST CHC
FOR PRECIP IN SRN IN BUT AT THIS POINT DOESNT LOOK LIKE MORE THAN
20% POPS SO WILL LEAVE OUT OF ZONES. PARTLY SUNNY FCST SEEMS GOOD
GIVEN 70% RH VALUES...PARTICULARLY IN NRN AREAS. BIG STORY HERE IS
COLD AIR USHERED IN BEHIND DEPARTING WAVE WED PM AS 850MB ZERO-LINE
NEAR KBNA BY 0Z/THU. IF WE HAVE ENUF CLOUDS COULD BE A TEMPS
DROPPING KIND OF DAY. WILL GO TOWARDS MAV GUIDANCE
MAXIMA...LOWER/MID 40S MOST AREAS. COLD TEMPS THU AM AS 850-500MB
RHS BELOW 20% AND 850MB TEMPS NEAR -4C. WONT FIDDLE WITH
EXTENDED...OTHER THINGS TO DO.

.SDF...FLOOD WATCH (LATEST UPDATE UNDER FLSSDF) FOR FOLLOWING
COUNTIES INZ076>079-083-084-089>092-
KYZ023>040-045-053-061>063-070>072.

XXV

The radar

The Louisville radar (KLVX), 71 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 08:30 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Washington

When: December 17, 3:30 AM EST
Where: Washington County, Countywide
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.600, -86.105 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Dubois

When: December 17, 4:30 AM EST to 1:30 PM EST
Where: Dubois County, Huntingburg
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.364, -86.880 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Orange

When: December 17, 4:30 AM EST to 5:00 PM EST
Where: Orange County, French Lick
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.542, -86.495 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Clark

When: December 17, 9:15 AM EST to 12:00 PM EST
Where: Clark County, Sellersburg
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.477, -85.707 (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

Every storm in Indiana in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Indiana, December 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: 5272170, 5272168, 5272169, 5272171.