Flash Flood and Flooding in Kansas, September 15, 2001

Name: Flash Flood and Flooding in Kansas, September 15, 2001
Start: 2001-09-15T11:05
End: 2001-09-15T13:28
Location: Kansas

September 15, 2001 · NWS TOP · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

2 flood, 1 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 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: 3

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 Topeka, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 15, 2:02 AM CST, 9 hours 3 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 15, 2:02 AM CST, 9 hours 3 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
302 AM CDT SAT SEP 15 2001

PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURES CONTINUE TO BE MAIN CONCERNS.

RADAR ECHOES HAVE BECOME QUITE SPOTTY ACROSS MUCH OF CWA...STILL
ALL THE MODELS KEEPING DECENT OMEGA FIELDS OVER EASTERN PORTIONS OF
CWA THIS MORNING AND MOVE ANOTHER AREA BACK INTO THE NORTH CENTRAL
BY THIS AFTERNOON.  UPPER LOW OVER SOUTH DAKOTA WITH A NUMBER OF
SPOKES OF ENERGY ROTATING AROUND AS SEEN ON WATER VAPOR PROGGED TO
GRADUALLY MOVE EAST BY MODELS.  GIVEN THE ABOVE WILL KEEP SOME 30-40
PERCENT POPS OVER MUCH OF CWA FOR TODAY...PERHAPS A TAD HIGHER IN THE
NORTH CENTRAL FOR THE AFTERNOON HOURS.  YESTERDAYS RAINS AND CLOUD
COVER HELD HIGHS TO THE MIDDLE TO UPPER 60S MOST AREAS.  EXPECTING
LESS COVERAGE TODAY...THUS MAY UP TEMPS MORE INTO THE LOWER TO
MIDDLE 70S.

FOR TONIGHT...UPPER LOW OPENS UP AND MOVES ACROSS IOWA...AVN THE
FASTEST...ETA THE SLOWEST.  STRONG OMEGA FIELDS ONCE AGAIN
PARTICULARLY ON ETA/AVN.  WILL GO WITH LIKELY POPS.  SOME CONCERN
ABOUT LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN AGAIN.  PARTS OF NORTHEAST AND EAST CENTRAL
HAD BETWEEN 2.5 TO OVER 5 INCHES OF RAINFALL SATURDAY...4.32 INCHES
AT MY HOUSE IN SOUTHWEST TOPEKA.  NO FLASH FLOOD WATCH AT THIS POINT
BUT MAY BE A CONCERN FOR DAY SHIFT IF MODELS CONTINUE CURRENT
TREND.  LOWS MAINLY 55 TO 60 DEGREE RANGE.

FOR MONDAY...SEE PRECIP DIMINISHING SOME DURING THE MORNING...BUT
FLOW BECOMES MORE ZONAL WITH MODELS BRINGING ANOTHER SHORTWAVE OUT
OF ROCKIES. WILL GO FOR 30-40 POPS FOR THE DAY...AND FAVOR 60
PERCENT POPS AT NIGHT AS SHORTWAVE WORKS EAST. WOULD THINK TEMPS MAY
BE HELD BACK SOME GIVEN EXPECTED CLOUDS AND MAINLY MORNING PRECIP.
HIGHS 70 TO 75.

LOOKS LIKE ETA MAY HAVE SOME CONVECTIVE FEEDBACK WITH 12Z TUESDAY
VORT OVER SOUTH CENTRAL KS.  STILL YET ANOTHER SHORTWAVE WAITING IN
THE WINGS UPSTREAM OF THIS FEATURE AND WILL KEEP SOME CHANCE FOR
POPS ON TUESDAY.  WILL KEEP HIGHS MAINLY IN THE 70 TO 75 DEGREE
RANGE NORTH TO MIDDLE 70S SOUTH.

FOR NOW PLAN LITTLE CHANGE TO EXTENDED WITH KEEPING SOME PRECIP
CHANCES INTO WEDNESDAY.

.TOP...NONE
FRANTZ

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 60 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:03 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 flood, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Jackson

When: September 15, 11:05 AM CST
Where: Jackson County, 5 mi SW of Mayetta
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 39.417, -95.794 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy rains caused runoff to be over a roadway for a time.

Flood, Shawnee

When: September 15, 1:00 PM CST
Where: Shawnee County, Topeka
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.042, -95.756 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Runoff from heavy rain caused a street in Topeka to be closed for a time due to high water.

Flash Flood, Osage

When: September 15, 1:28 PM CST
Where: Osage County, 1 mi S of Scranton
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.652, -95.727 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Runoff from heavy rain caused U.S. Highway 56 to be closed for a time near Scranton.

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.
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, September 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: 5266574, 5266575, 5266576.