Flash Flood, McDonald
- When
- June 3, 5:10 AM CST to 10:45 AM CST
- Where
- McDonald County, Countywide
- Property damage
- $700,000
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 36.629, -94.348 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood in Missouri, June 3, 2001
Rainfall amounts of three to eight inches fell over a large portion of McDonald County during a three hour period, which caused extensive damage to homes, cars, roadways, and businesses. Some of the Kansas City Southern railroad beds were washed out, but the tracks remained intact.
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
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $700,000
- 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 happened
The episode as NWS SGF wrote it up.
Rainfall amounts of three to eight inches fell over a large portion of McDonald County during a three hour period, which caused extensive damage to homes, cars, roadways, and businesses. Some of the Kansas City Southern railroad beds were washed out, but the tracks remained intact. Major routes throughout McDonald County were washed out and closed for several hours during the height of the storm. Although nobody was injured, numerous cars were stranded or washed off the road into drainage ditches where people had to be rescued.
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 Springfield, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 3, 1:55 AM CST, 3 hours 15 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jun 3, 1:55 AM CST, 3 hours 15 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO 255 AM CDT SUN JUN 3 2001 LITTLE TIME FOR DETAILS...BUT WILL GO WITH MESOETA. BIGGEST CHALLENGE WILL BE CHANCES FOR CONVECTION TONIGHT IN THE NORTH...AND POSITION OF SURFACE FRONT MONDAY AND ITS EFFECT ON HIGHS. GENERALLY LIKE THE MESOETA FORECAST...BUT STILL BELIEVE REFIRING OF CONVECTION LATE TODAY LOOKS OVERDONE IN KANSAS. BIG CAP IN PLACE AFTER CONVECTION MOVES OUT THIS AFTERNOON. CONVECTION WILL LIKELY FIRE ALONG 850 BOUNDARY WITH LOW LEVEL JET TONIGHT OVER NORTHERN CWA. WARM FRONT NORTH OF CWA MONDAY...SO WILL GO WITH VERY WARM MESOETA HIGHS. PRELIMINARY FORECAST NUMBERS FOR GUIDANCE PURPOSES ONLY SGF 75 63 87 70 / 90 20 10 60 JLN 77 66 90 71 / 90 20 10 60 UNO 72 63 87 67 / 90 20 10 50 VIH 65 56 85 70 / 70 50 20 80 .SGF... MO...FLOOD WATCH FOR TODAY MOZ055>058-066>071. KS...NONE. BROWNI<NG
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Jun 3, 3:14 AM CST, 1 hour 56 minutes before
KSZ073-097-101-MOZ066-077>080-082-088>098-101>106-031400- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO 414 AM CDT SUN JUN 3 2001 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 355...IN EFFECT UNTIL 900 AM CDT SUNDAY MORNING. THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES... IN MISSOURI: BARRY...BARTON...CEDAR...CHRISTIAN...DADE...DALLAS...DOUGLAS... GREENE...HOWELL...JASPER...LAWRENCE...MCDONALD...NEWTON...OREGON... OZARK...POLK...SHANNON...STONE...TANEY...TEXAS...VERNON...WEBSTER AND WRIGHT. IN KANSAS: BOURBON...CHEROKEE AND CRAWFORD. SOME CITIES IN THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH INCLUDE AVA... BOLIVAR...BRANSON...FORT SCOTT...HOUSTON...JOPLIN...MONETT...MOUNT VERNON...NEOSHO...NEVADA...OZARK...PITTSBURG...SPRINGFIELD...STOCKTON AND WEST PLAINS. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SEVERE WEATHER...INCLUDING LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN...IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. WHILE SEVERE WEATHER MAY NOT BE IMMINENT...PERSONS SHOULD REMAIN ALERT FOR RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS...AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS. BROWNING
Local storm report, Jun 3, 3:45 AM CST, 1 hour 25 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
445 AM CDT SUN JUN 03 2001
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....O
0400 AM 2 W CRANE MO 1 INCH HAIL
06/03/01 STONE REPORTED BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.Local storm report, Jun 3, 3:59 AM CST, 1 hour 11 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
459 AM CDT SUN JUN 03 2001
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0442 AM 3 N ANDERSON MO TSTM GUST
06/03/01 MCDONALD ESTIMATED 60 MPH WIND.
TRUCK BLOWN ACROSS
HIGHWAY. REPORTED BY
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.
0442 AM 4 NW WHEELERVILLE MO 1 INCH HAIL
06/03/01 BARRY REPORTED BY HAM RADIO
OPERATOR.Local storm report, Jun 3, 4:23 AM CST, 47 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
523 AM CDT SUN JUN 03 2001
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0515 AM 4 E TIFF CITY MO .88 INCH HAIL
06/03/01 MCDONALD REPORTED BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.Local storm report, Jun 3, 4:38 AM CST, 32 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
538 AM CDT SUN JUN 03 2001
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....>
0532 AM 3 W ANDERSON MO 60 MPH TSTM GUST
06/03/01 MCDONALD REPORTED BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.Special weather statement, Jun 3, 5:00 AM CST, 10 minutes before
KSZ073-097-101-MOZ055>058-066>071-077>083-088>098-101>106-031800- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO 600 AM CDT SUN JUN 3 2001 ...THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH TONIGHT... ONGOING SEVERE WEATHER THIS MORNING WILL CONTINUE INTO THE AFTERNOON. ADDITIONAL SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE TONIGHT OVER CENTRAL MISSOURI. ...EXTENDED OUTLOOK... THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE THROUGH TUESDAY. BROWNING
The radar
The Springfield radar (KSGF), 108 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 11:07 UTC.
Event by event
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
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
- Flooding and Hail in Georgia, June 3, 2001
- Flood and Hail in New York, June 3, 2001
- Heavy Snow in Montana, June 3 to 4, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Alabama, June 3, 2001
- Hail in Arkansas, June 3, 2001
- Hail in Kansas, June 3, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Florida, June 3, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Nebraska, June 3, 2001
- High Wind in California, June 3, 2001
- Tornadoes and Hail in Kansas, June 3 to 4, 2001
- Flash Flood in Missouri, June 3, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Kansas, June 3, 2001
More
Every storm in Missouri in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Missouri, June 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: 5252225.