Kentucky, 2001

Flash Flood in Kentucky, August 3 to 4, 2001

August 3 to 4, 2001 · NWS JKL · 1 event in 1 county or zone

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

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
2
Injuries
0
Property damage
$6.0 million
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 Jackson, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 3, 8:25 PM EST, 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 3, 8:25 PM EST, 5 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON KY
925 PM EDT FRI AUG 3 2001

SFC CHART THIS EVENING SHOWING THE WEAK COLD FRONT STILL JUST TO OUR
NORTH...ACROSS OHIO...ACRSS N KY JUST SOUTH OF THE OHIO RVR. SEVERAL
WEAK WAVES OF LOW PRESSURE ALONG THE FRONT.

MODELS IN FAIR AGREEMENT IN SLOWLY DROPPING THE FRONT THRU THE CWA
TONIGHT. MODELS DO NOT AGREE WELL WITH THE QPF HOWEVER. RADAR PCPN
ESTIMATES VS RAIN GAGES SHOWS THAT THE RADAR MAY BE UNDERESTIMATING
THE RAIN A BIT...LOW TOP-WARM CONVECTION.

THINK THAT WITH SUCH HIGH PW'S THE RAIN TONIGHT MAY CONTINUE TO BE
HEAVY AT TIMES. HOWEVER...NOT ALL AREAS WILL SEE RAIN TONIGHT.
THOUGHT A LITTLE BIT ABOUT LOWERING THE POPS A TAD...BUT CONSIDERING
THE FACT THAT WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF ISSUING A FLASH FLOOD WARNING
FOR PIKE AND FLOYD COUNTIES AT THIS MOMENT...WE WILL LET THE POPS
STAND FOR THE WHOLE CWA AT 50 PERCENT. WE ALSO HAVE AN URBAN AND
SMALL STREAM ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 PM FOR ESTILL COUNTY.

ALL IN ALL ZONES LOOK OK AND DONT PLAN ON UPDATING THEM AT THIS TIME.
WILL HOLD OFF ON A FLASH FLOOD WATCH TONIGHT CONSIDERING THAT THE
PCPN IS NOT GOING TO BE REAL WIDESPREAD...B]UT WILL CONTINUE TO
MONITOR THINGS VERY CLOSELY.

.JKL...NONE

HALL

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Pike

When
August 3, 8:30 PM EST to August 4, 1:00 AM EST
Where
Pike County, Countywide
Deaths
2 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage
$6.0 million
Reported by
EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates
37.469, -82.396 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Widespread flash flooding occurred across the area prompting the county to be a Presidentially declared disaster area. Up to 5 inches fell in less that 3 hours on already saturated ground. Massive road and bridge damage resulted. Over 200 homes were affected by flooding with 5 homes being totally destroyed. Two people lost their lives in this event. The first was a woman in her early 20s that was trapped in her vehicle along with her sister on Kentucky route 1384 as high water pushed the car off of the road. Her sister escaped, but unfortunately the woman lost her battle to the quickly flowing waters and her evacuation attempt failed.The second fatality was a man in his early 30s who was swept away along Hurricane Creek while attempting to save his All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) out of fast flowing flash flood water.Most of the damage occurred on county roads and bridges where 5.5 million dollars in damages resulted. Close to 500 thousand dollars in damages resulted in loses to homes in the county.

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

EventDateAgeSexWhereKind
Flash Flood, Pike2001-08-0423FemaleVehicle/Towed TrailerDirect
Flash Flood, Pike2001-08-0331MaleIn WaterDirect

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 Kentucky in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Kentucky, August 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: 5263946.