Flash Flooding in Kansas, April 14, 2001

Name: Flash Flooding in Kansas, April 14, 2001
Start: 2001-04-14T18:00
End: 2001-04-14T20:15
Location: Kansas

April 14, 2001 · NWS TOP · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

Heavy rains caused streams to overflow and flood roadways for a time.

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 TOP wrote it up.

Heavy rains caused streams to overflow and flood roadways for a time.

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 Topeka, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 14, 3:18 PM CST, 2 hours 42 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 14, 3:18 PM CST, 2 hours 42 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
418 PM CDT SAT APR 14 2001

SEVERE WEATHER LIMITING DISCUSSION.

STRONG OVERRUNING OF SURFACE BOUNDARY AND UNSTABLE AIR IN PLACE HAS LEAD
TO SCATTERED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS GENERALLY ALONG AND NORTH OF INTERSTATE
70...AND EAST OF HIGHWAY 75 SO FAR THIS AFTERNOON.  MAINLY HAIL BEING
REPORTED.

UPPER WAVE EJECTING ACROSS CWA DURING THE EVENING WITH MODELS
SHOWING LIFT GENERALLY EAST OF CWA BY AROUND MIDNIGHT.  WILL KEEP
THE SCATTERED STORMS GOING UNTIL THAT TIME...GUIDANCE LOWS IN THE
MIDDLE 40S TO LOWER 50S LOOK OK.

SUNDAY...BREAK IN ACTION WITH COOLER AIR SETTLLING ACROSS CWA.  H850
MB WINDS 25 TO 35 KNOTS IN THE AM...WILL GO BREEZY WITH HIGHS 65 TO
70 MOST AREAS.

INCREASING CLOUDS SUNDAY NIGHT.  GOING MORE WITH AVN MODEL.
NORTHERN STREAM BECOMES ACTIVE AND SWEEPS ACROSS CWA MONDAY.  WILL
GO WITH SOME 30 TO 40 POPS FOR NOW AND GIVEN H850 MB TEMPS...MENTION
SOME FLURRIES POSSIBLE IN THE AM OVER THE FAR NORTHERN COUNTIES.
WILL HAVE PRECIP OVER THE NORTHCENTRAL AND FAR NORTHERNN COUNTIES
MAINLY IN THE AM.  FAVORING MORE OF A COMPROMISE ON HIGHS AND LOWS WITH
MAV/FAN.

.TOP.K..NONE

PF

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 14, 5:20 PM CST, 40 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
620 PM CDT SAT APR 14 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0545 PM    PAXICO                    KS    WIND DAMAGE
04/14/01   WABAUNSEE                       ROOF BLOWN OFF JUNIOR
                                           HIGH SCHOOL AND POWER
                                           LINES DOWN.

0615 PM    6 N BURLINGAME            KS    1 INCH HAIL
04/14/01   OSAGE

Local storm report, Apr 14, 5:35 PM CST, 25 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
635 PM CDT SAT APR 14 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0622 PM    6 N BURLINGAME            KS    1.75 INCH HAIL
04/14/01   OSAGE

0629 PM    ALMA                      KS    .75 INCH HAIL
04/14/01   WABAUNSEE

0629 PM    SCRANTON                  KS    1.75 INCH HAIL
04/14/01   OSAGE

0634 PM    PERRY                     KS    1 INCH HAIL
04/14/01   JEFFERSON

Local storm report, Apr 14, 5:37 PM CST, 23 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
637 PM CDT SAT APR 14 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....
?
0634 PM    LAWRENCE                  KS    .75 INCH HAIL
04/14/01   DOUGLAS                         55 MPH WINDS ALSO

Local storm report, Apr 14, 5:43 PM CST, 17 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
643 PM CDT SAT APR 14 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....
f
0634 PM    2 E SCRANTON              KS    4.5 INCH HAIL
04/14/01   OSAGE                           GOLF BALL TO SOFTBALL
                                           HAIL

Local storm report, Apr 14, 5:44 PM CST, 16 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
644 PM CDT SAT APR 14 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....
W
0640 PM    3 W OVERBROOK             KS    1.75 INCH HAIL
04/14/01   OSAGE

Local storm report, Apr 14, 5:47 PM CST, 13 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
647 PM CDT SAT APR 14 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0647 PM    OVERBROOK                 KS    1.75 INCH HAIL
04/14/01   OSAGE

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 82 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:01 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Douglas

When: April 14, 6:00 PM CST to 8:15 PM CST
Where: Douglas County, Lawrence
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.885, -95.293 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Jefferson

When: April 14, 6:00 PM CST to 8:15 PM CST
Where: Jefferson County, Valley Falls
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 39.236, -95.383 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Osage

When: April 14, 6:00 PM CST to 8:15 PM CST
Where: Osage County, Burlingame
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.652, -95.727 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Shawnee

When: April 14, 6:00 PM CST to 8:15 PM CST
Where: Shawnee County, Tecumseh
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 39.042, -95.756 (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 Kansas in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Kansas, April 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: 5240479, 5240480, 5240481, 5240482.