Flash Flooding in Missouri, July 28 to 29, 2001

Name: Flash Flooding in Missouri, July 28 to 29, 2001
Start: 2001-07-28T23:30
End: 2001-07-29T23:30
Location: Missouri

July 28 to 29, 2001 · NWS LSX · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

Rainfall of 3 to 6 inches caused scattered flash flooding across parts of Iron, Madison and Reynolds counties. Numerous county roads were flooded.

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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 6
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 happened

The episode as NWS LSX wrote it up.

Rainfall of 3 to 6 inches caused scattered flash flooding across parts of Iron, Madison and Reynolds counties. Numerous county roads were flooded. The heavy rain washed out the ground under railroad tracks between Sabula and Annapolis in Iron County. The Texas Eagle Amtrak train on route from Chicago, IL to San Antonio, TX hit this area about 200 am CDT and derailed. The 18 car train had 181 passengers on board and a crew of 12. The engine, an empty passenger car, and a baggage car fell onto their sides. The rest of the train derailed but remained upright. Six people were injured with 4 taken to a local hospitals.

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 St. Louis, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 28, 1:30 PM CST, 10 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 28, 1:30 PM CST, 10 hours before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
230 PM CDT SAT JUL 28 2001

...FOCUS SHIFTING FROM RAIN TO HEAT...

WATCHING TO SEE IF WE GET ONE FINAL ROUND OF PCPN TNGT ESP OVR SRN
HLF CWA BUT FF GUIDANCE OVER TWO INCHES MOST AREAS AND HIGHER AND
EVEN THOUUGH PRECIPITABLE H20 VALUES ARE HIGH THINK MOST OF THE
ACTIVITY WILL BE S AND E OF CWA. PAH HAS FF WATCH IN EFFECT BUTTING
UP TO OUR COUNTIES AND SGF PLANNING TO INCLUDE SOME OF HIS COUNTIES
BUT UNCERTAINTIES AS TO LOCATION AND ORIENTATION OF ACTIVYT LEADS
US TO TAKE MORE CONSERVATIVE APPROACH FOR NOW.

HEAT MAY BE SOMETHING TO DEAL WITH SOON. HGTS FALL 60M WITH S/W
PASSAGE SUNDAY TO N BUT HGTS RISE VRY QUICKLY INDUCING STG RDGG AHEAD
OF UNSEASONABLY DEEP TROFFING OVR PACIFIC NW AND NRN ROCKIES. AVN
SHOWING STG SUBSIDENCE TAKING PLACE ALREADY BY MON SO WITH THIS IN
MIND HV GONE ABV GUID TEMPS FOR MON. LOOKING FOR FASTER RECOVERY
THAN MODELS SEEM TO HAVE. IN ADDITION NOT SURE WHY THESE HEIGHTS AND
ORIENTATION OF RDG RESULTING IN ONLY AVG 850 TEMPS OF PLUS 18 TO 20
OVR CWA. FEEL THIS IS CONSERVATIVE AND REALLY THINK 95 TO 100 DEG
TEMPS LIKELY BY MIDWEEK BUT WE HAVE PLENTY OF TIME TO CONSIDER THIS
AND ISSUE APPROPRIATE HOT WEATHER HEADLINES.

.STL...NONE.

PEDIGO

The radar

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 133 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 05:29 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Iron

When: July 28, 11:30 PM CST to July 29, 5:30 AM CST
Where: Iron County, Annapolis
Injuries: 6 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 37.504, -90.690 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Reynolds

When: July 28, 11:30 PM CST to July 29, 5:30 AM CST
Where: Reynolds County, Ellington
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 37.362, -90.969 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Madison

When: July 28, 11:30 PM CST to July 29, 11:30 PM CST
Where: Madison County, Saco
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 37.478, -90.345 (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: 5258552, 5258553, 5258554.