Flooding in Iowa, October 23, 2001

Name: Flooding in Iowa, October 23, 2001
Start: 2001-10-23T03:00
End: 2001-10-23T21:00
Location: Iowa

October 23, 2001 · NWS DMX · 5 events in 5 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 5 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: 5

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 DMX wrote it up.

Moderate to heavy rainfall developed across the southeastern one-half of the DMX HSA late on the 22nd and early on the 23rd as a complex storm system moved across the region. Rainfall was heaviest over parts of Warren, Marion, Lucas, Monroe, and Wapello counties, with WSR-88D radar estimated rainfall of 1 to 3 inches prevailing across these counties. 24-hour rainfall totals from precipitation gages included 2.88" at the Ottumwa cooperative site (OTWI4), 1.95" at Osceola (OSEI4), 1.81" at Toledo (TLDI4), 1.68" at Chariton (CHRI4), 1.49" at Ames (AESI4), and 1.16" at Des Moines Airport (DSM). The rainfall in the Chariton basin caused a rapid rise on the Chariton River at Chariton, which rose to slightly over it's Flood Stage of 15 feet for several hours in response to the rainfall. Cedar Creek near Bussey also showed a rapid rise, climbing from around 5 to just over 16 foot bankfull in 24 hours. Very little in the way of damage occurred as a flood of this magnitude is very common and affects a small area.

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 Des Moines, IA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 22, 1:15 PM CST, 13 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 22, 1:15 PM CST, 13 hours 45 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
215 PM CDT TUE OCT 22 2001

MAIN CONCERN WILL BE LATE NIGHT ACTIVITY IN FIRST PD AND OUTBREAK OF
COLD WEATHER AND AFFECTS ON TEMPS THRU THE WEEKEND.

MODELS VERY SIMILIAR IN SOLUTION OF BRINGNG STRONG COLD FRONT DOWN
NW FLO ACRS UPPER MIDWEST LT TNGT HWVR DIFFERENCES COME IN HOW
WIDESPREAD PCPN WILL BE TNGT.  AVN AS USUAL MOST AGRESSIVE MODEL
WHILE ETA/NGM PCPN MUCH MORE SCTD AND LIGHTER.  LOOKING UPSTREAM FVR
ETA AS EVEN AVN DYNAMICS NOT THAT GREAT AND MOISTURE RETURN BELIEVE
WILL NOT ARRIVE IN TIME TO AID DVLPMNT.  LOOKING AT INDICIES AND
STABILITY FIELDS JUST DONT SEE MUCH WIDESPREAD THUNDER.  WL LEAVE
CHC FOR SHWRS MAYBE ISOLD TSTMS AT BEST.  BETTER CHC IN MRNG HRS OF
POST FNTL PCPN IN COOLER AIR BY LARGE UPPER TROF EAST OF THE ST BY
18Z.  DEFINITELY LEANING TWD LOWER MAVS AND FMRS FOR LOW TEMPS AS
AIRMASS QUITE COLD.  ALL MODELS APPEAR TO BE AGREEING ON BELOW
NORMAL TEMPS.

EXTENDED PERIODS FAIRLY NON EVENTFUL THO WONDER ABT THU NGT/FRI AS
ORGINALLY LOOKED FOR RN/SN SHWRS BUT ATTM SEVERAL S/W IN NRLY FLO
BUT MOISTURE LACKING SO WILL GO WITH PTCLDY.

.DSM...NONE

FORSTER

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

5 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Appanoose

When: October 23, 3:00 AM CST to 9:00 PM CST
Where: Appanoose forecast zone
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 40.743, -92.869 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Clarke

When: October 23, 3:00 AM CST to 9:00 PM CST
Where: Clarke forecast zone
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 41.029, -93.785 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Lucas

When: October 23, 3:00 AM CST to 9:00 PM CST
Where: Lucas forecast zone
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 41.029, -93.328 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Monroe

When: October 23, 3:00 AM CST to 9:00 PM CST
Where: Monroe forecast zone
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 41.030, -92.869 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Wayne

When: October 23, 3:00 AM CST to 9:00 PM CST
Where: Wayne forecast zone
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 40.740, -93.327 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Iowa in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Iowa, October 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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5268281, 5268282, 5268283, 5268284, 5268285.