Name: Flash Flood in Missouri, July 27, 2001
Start: 2001-07-27T00:05
End: 2001-07-27T03:00
Location: Missouri

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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $5,000
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 Paducah, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 26, 1:50 PM CST, 10 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 26, 1:50 PM CST, 10 hours 15 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
250 PM CDT THU JUL 26 2001

FORECAST CHALLENGE THIS ROUND IS DETERMINING THE EXACT FRONTAL
POSITION OVER THE WEEKEND AND ITS EFFECTS ON PRECIPITATION CHANCES.
LATEST 19Z SURFACE CHART INDICATES THE FRONT HAS MADE VERY LITTLE
SOUTHWARD PROGRESS DURING THE DAYLIGHT HOURS TODAY. CURRENT POSITION
OF FRONT IS RIGHT ALONG THE OHIO RIVER BACK ACROSS SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
AND SOUTHERN MISSOURI. DOPPLER RADAR INDICATES MOST OF THE SCATTERED
SHOWER ACTIVITY RIGHT ALONG THE FRONT FROM SOUTH-CENTRAL ILLINOIS
INTO SOUTHERN INDIANA AND POINTS EAST FROM THERE.

DURING THE UPCOMING WEEKEND...MODELS VARY SIGNIFICANTLY ON EXACTLY
HOW MUCH NORTHWARD PROGRESS THE FRONT MAKES. ETA IS THE QUICKEST IN
THRUSTING THE FRONT NORTH OF THE AREA...AVN LINGERS THE FRONT ACROSS
THE AREA EVEN INTO SUNDAY...WHILE NGM OFFERS A COMPROMISE SOLUTION
THROUGH 48 HOURS. AVN SEEMS TOO SLOW IN PUSHING THE FRONT TO THE
NORTH...ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING THE WEAK ZONAL FLOW PATTERN IN PLACE.
ON THE OTHER HAND...ETA AGGRESSIVELY THRUSTS THE FRONT BACK TO THE
NORTH MUCH EARLIER IN THE PERIOD. THIS MAY ALSO BE OVERDONE...
ESPECIALLY IF FORECASTED CONVECTION HELPS TO INHIBIT THE FRONT/S
NORTHWARD PROGRESS OVER THE WEEKEND. AS A RESULT...A COMPROMISE
SOLUTION...THE NGM...SEEMS PRUDENT AT THIS JUNCTURE.

AS THE FRONT CONTINUES TO SAG SOUTH TONIGHT...SHOWER ACTIVITY SHOULD
COME TO AN END THIS EVENING...AT LEAST OVER NORTHERN ZONES. WILL
WAIT UNTIL CLOSER TO ISSUANCE TIME TO DECIDE ON WORDING OF FIRST
PERIOD. WILL LIKELY CARRY AT LEAST A CHANCE POP OVER SOUTHERN ZONES
ALL NIGHT LONG. IF FRONT MAKES IT TO THE KENTUCKY-TENNESSEE
BORDER...IT WILL NOT STAY THERE VERY LONG. AS IT RETURNS NORTH
FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY...EXPECT AN INCREASING CHANCE FOR MORE
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. WILL CARRY THE CHANCE OF CONVECTION INTO
SUNDAY AS WELL...SINCE THE UPPER-LEVEL RIDGE WILL NOT YET BE
SUFFICIENTLY IN PLACE AT THAT TIME TO CAP OFF STORM DEVELOPMENT.

LONG-RANGE MODELS ARE CONSISTENT IN BUILDING THE UPPER RIDGE OVER
THE MID-MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEY NEXT WEEK. THE SUBSIDENCE AND
RESULTANT COMPRESSIONAL WARMING FROM THIS RIDGE SHOULD HELP TO CAP
CONVECTION. GIVEN STRENGTH AND POSITIONING OF UPPER RIDGE...WILL
RAISE HIGH TEMPERATURES INTO THE LOWER AND MIDDLE 90S FOR THE
EXTENDED.

GENERALLY FOLLOWED ETA SURFACE TEMPERATURE DEPICTION THROUGH 60
HOURS...WITH A BIAS TOWARD THE WARMER FMR GUIDANCE IN LATER PERIODS.

.PAH...NONE.

RJP

The radar

The Paducah radar (KPAH), 151 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 06:04 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Butler

When: July 27, 12:05 AM CST to 3:00 AM CST
Where: Butler County, Poplar Bluff
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 36.716, -90.407 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Nearly stationary thunderstorms, producing over an inch of rain per hour, caused creeks and roads to flood. One parked car was damaged when rushing water pushed it down a hill and into a pole. Two wooden bridges were washed out. One house had 4 inches of water in the basement from a nearby creek. Another house had floodwaters nearly to the foundation. A rest home received some flooding, but no evacuations were conducted. Numerous roads across the county were flooded.

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 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: 5257353.