Flash Flooding in Missouri, July 19, 2001

Name: Flash Flooding in Missouri, July 19, 2001
Start: 2001-07-19T08:55
End: 2001-07-19T11:40
Location: Missouri

July 19, 2001 · NWS PAH · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

Widespread, major street flooding occurred in Cape Girardeau. Vehicles stalled, and emergency crews rescued trapped motorists from water as deep as 8 feet.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 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: $50,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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.

Widespread, major street flooding occurred in Cape Girardeau. Vehicles stalled, and emergency crews rescued trapped motorists from water as deep as 8 feet. Some buildings received water damage, including 36 homeowners who reported basement flooding to city officials. One home's basement wall collapsed. At Southeast Missouri State University, the basement of the crime lab was flooded. At Southeast Missouri Hospital, a broken roof drain caused thousands of gallons of water to flood the hospital's material management offices and a warehouse. In Cape Girardeau County, five families were evacuated from Jefferson Street in Jackson, which received 4.25 inches of rain in 6 hours. Jackson closed its city park to keep people away from flooded Hubble Creek. Route K and Route AB were closed. In Scott County, portions of northbound Interstate 55 between the 85 and 86 mile markers were inundated. Highway 311 near Kelso was also inundated. Floodwaters covered Main Street in Scott City, and several inches of water got into the city hall. Slow-moving thunderstorms persisted in a narrow north-to-south band along the Mississippi River, primarily eastern Cape Girardeau and Scott Counties. At the Cape Girardeau Airport, the automated observing system measured about 5 inches of rain in 6 hours. An unofficial report was received of 6.5 inches on the south side of Cape Girardeau.

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 19, 1:30 AM CST, 7 hours 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 19, 1:30 AM CST, 7 hours 25 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
230 AM CDT THU JUL 19 2001

MAIN QUESTION FOR THIS FORECAST CONTINUES TO BE POPS.  THE
CONVECTIVE CLUSTER NEAR MCI HAS BEEN NEARLY STATIONARY EARLY THIS
MORNING WHICH IS IN LINE WITH MESO-ETA CORFIDI VECTORS FORECAST.  IF
THIS SYSTEM DOES MAKE A RUN TO THE SOUTH IT SHOULD ONLY AFFECT FAR
WESTERN ZONES.

NO MODEL HAS MUCH OF A HANDLE ON THIS CONVECTION...SO CONFIDENCE IN
OVERALL EVOLUTION OF THE MODELS IS LOW. HOWEVER...ALL OF THE MODELS
TEND TO WANT TO GENERATE CONVECTION MAINLY ACROSS THE WESTERN HALF
OF THE FORECAST AREA...THROUGH AT LEAST FRIDAY.  THIS TREND IS
SUPPORTED IN THE MOS POPS AS WELL.  THEREFORE...WILL SPREAD CHANCE
POPS THROUGHOUT THE FORECAST AREA WITH 50S WEST AND 30S EAST TODAY
THROUGH FRIDAY.

MOS TEMPERATURE GUIDANCE SEEMS REASONABLE SO WILL NOT DEVIATE MUCH
FROM IT.  HOWEVER...A POORLY TIMED CONVECTIVE COMPLEX COULD CREATE
HAVOC IN SOME ZONES...MOST LIKELY IN SOUTHEAST MISSOURI.

BEYOND FRIDAY THE MODELS...ESPECIALLY THE AVN...TRY TO DRY THINGS
OUT.  THE AVN BROADENS THE RIDGE AND PUSHES THE PRIMARY WESTERLIES
WELL NORTH AND NORTHEAST OF THE AREA.  THIS SHOULD KEEP ANY
ORGANIZED CONVECTION OUT OF THE AREA THROUGH THE EXTENDED FORECAST.
HOWEVER...THE 700MB TEMPERATURES ARE ONLY FLIRTING WITH +10C AND
500MB HEIGHTS ACTUALLY FALL SOME AS THE HIGH SPREADS OUT.  THIS
COULD ALLOW FOR DIURNALLY DRIVEN CONVECTION THROUGH THE EXTENDED.
WILL NOT INTRODUCE POPS BEYOND FRIDAY...BUT THIS POSSIBILITY WILL
HAVE TO BE MONITORED.

.PAH...NONE.

DRS

The radar

The Paducah radar (KPAH), 88 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 14:49 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Cape Girardeau

When: July 19, 8:55 AM CST to 11:40 AM CST
Where: Cape Girardeau County, Cape Girardeau
Property damage: $50,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 37.384, -89.684 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Scott

When: July 19, 10:45 AM CST to 11:40 AM CST
Where: Scott County, Kelso
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 37.053, -89.568 (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 Missouri in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Missouri, 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: 5257286, 5257287.