Flash Flooding in Kentucky, July 24, 2001

Name: Flash Flooding in Kentucky, July 24, 2001
Start: 2001-07-24T09:45
End: 2001-07-24T12:00
Location: Kentucky

July 24, 2001 · NWS PAH · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

Thunderstorms producing torrential downpours were nearly stationary over Calloway County, including the city of Murray, for a couple of hours. 4 inches per hour.

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: $135,000
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 happened

The episode as NWS PAH wrote it up.

Thunderstorms producing torrential downpours were nearly stationary over Calloway County, including the city of Murray, for a couple of hours. Spotters reported rainfall rates up to 2.4 inches per hour. Rainfall totals up to 4 and 5 inches occurred at Murray and Benton, mostly within two hours. In Murray, vehicles were nearly completely submerged at one apartment complex. A motorist was trapped in his submerged vehicle after attempting to cross a flooded stretch of Highway 121. He was rescued, uninjured, by passers-by. Numerous streets were flooded in Murray, and a few buildings reported some water in them. An electric substation that serves Murray State University was shut down due to potential flooding, causing power outages to several campus buildings. Across Marshall and southern Livingston Counties, the storms were moving, but multiple storms deluged the same locations. About 30,000 dollars damage was done to roads in Marshall County. Flooded roads in Marshall County included Kentucky 80 east, Kentucky 408 east, and about 20 smaller roads. In Benton, a bridge on West 9th Street was washed out, and overflowing creeks damaged a city park and a few mobile homes. Sewer lines backed up into basements across Benton. Town Creek came out of its banks and flooded the area near East 14th and Birch Streets. In the Grand Rivers section of Livingston County, flooding on Ridge Road pulled 60 feet of culvert out of the ground.

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 Paducah, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 24, 1:35 AM CST, 8 hours 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 24, 1:35 AM CST, 8 hours 10 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
235 AM CDT TUE JUL 24 2001

PRIMARY FCST CHALLENGE REMAINS POPS AND HEAT. LATEST 88D PICS SHOW
SCT CONVECTION MOVING INTO NW CORRIDOR PAH FA AS WITH IR IMAGERY
DEPICTING COOLING TOPS ECNTL MO/WCNTL IL...IN ASSOC WITH WEAK VORT
PICKED UP BY MODELS. DESPITE MINOR MODEL DIFFERENCES IN EXACT TRACK
OF VORT...ALL BASICALLY SHOW A SWARD SAG WITH THE NW CORRIDOR OF THE
PAH FA UNDER A HIGHER THREAT FOR POPS...OR AT THE LEAST...MORE
EXTENSIVE CLOUDINESS FM NEARBY CONVECTION VERSUS SE CORRIDOR.
BELIEVE SAID CLOUDINESS FM CONVECTION WL LIMIT NW CORRIDOR'S ABILITY
TO ACHIEVE ADVISORY CRITERIA...AND AFTER COORDINATION W/ILX...AM IN
AGREEMENT IN DROPPING HEADLINE FOR NW CORRIDOR. REMAINDER OF FA HAS
DECENT SHOT AT APPROACHING...IF NOT EXCEEDING CRITERIA...AND WL
THEREFORE LET IT LIVE AT LEAST ONE MORE AFTERNOON...PREFERRING THE
NATURAL EXPIRATION VERSUS THE CANCELLATION. ONLY OTHER CHOICE WE'RE
NOT COMFORTABLE WITH...THAT BEING UPGRADING ADVISORY...BECAUSE OF
SUCH MARGINAL EXPECTATIONS AND ANTICIPATION OF NATURAL EXPIRATION.

OTHERWISE THERE IS LTL FCST CHANGE WITH CONT CHC CONVECTION TIL
FRONT DROPS SOUTH. MODELS STILL SHOW THAT TO BE THU AS CNTL U.S.
RIDGING BUCKLES UPR FLOW ENOUGH TO PUSH IT THRU. RESULT STILL LOOKS
LIKE DRIER/COOLER WEEKS END AND THEREFORE WL MAKE ONLY MINOR TWEEKS
TO GOING PACKAGE.

.PAH...HEAT ADVISORY CONTS MOST OF WKY TODAY.
DH

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 24, 9:09 AM CST, 36 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
1009 AM CDT TUE JUL 24 2001

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

0730 PM                              IL   WIND DAMAGE
07/23/01   JOHNSON                        1 TREE DOWN ACROSS ROAD
                                          JUST NORTH OF VIENNA. 2
                                          TREES DOWN ACROSS ROAD
                                          JUST SOUTHWEST OF
                                          SIMPSON.

The radar

The Paducah radar (KPAH), 67 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 15:43 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Calloway

When: July 24, 9:45 AM CST to 12:00 PM CST
Where: Calloway County, Countywide
Property damage: $75,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 36.621, -88.272 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Livingston

When: July 24, 9:45 AM CST to 11:30 AM CST
Where: Livingston County, Grand Rivers
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 37.210, -88.354 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Marshall

When: July 24, 9:45 AM CST to 11:15 AM CST
Where: Marshall County, Countywide
Property damage: $50,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 36.884, -88.329 (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 Kentucky in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Kentucky, July 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: 5257290, 5257291, 5257292.