Name: Flash Flood in North Carolina, July 29, 2001
Start: 2001-07-29T08:00
End: 2001-07-29T13:00
Location: North Carolina

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: $1.0 million
Crop damage: $2.5 million
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 Greenville-Spartanburg, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 29, 5:19 AM EST, 2 hours 41 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 29, 5:19 AM EST, 2 hours 41 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
619 AM EDT SUN JUL 29 2001

JUST ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WATCH AND UPDATED FORECAST FOR N MTNS AND
N FOOTHILLS OF NC FOR TODAY. ECHOES THAT WERE PREVIOUSLY
DISORGANISED HAVE STARTED TO TRAIN OVER THE AREA.

FCSTID = 77
GSP   87  70  89  71 /  70  30  40  20
AND   88  70  90  71 /  70  30  40  20
CLT   86  70  88  71 /  70  30  40  20
HKY   84  67  86  68 /  70  30  40  20
AVL   82  66  84  66 /  80  30  40  20

.GSP...
GA...NONE.
NC...FLASH FLOOD WATCH TODAY FOR ZONES NCZ033>034...
NCZ048>055...NCZ058>059.
SC...NONE.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Madison

When: July 29, 8:00 AM EST to 1:00 PM EST
Where: Madison County, 4 mi E of Marshall
Property damage: $1.0 million
Crop damage: $2.5 million
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.858, -82.706 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A significant flash flood occurred in Madison County on the 29th, the fourth major flash flood to affect Madison County in six weeks. Numerous roads were flooded, closing major commuter highways 208 and 212. Many private bridges were washed away. Damage to the tobacco crop alone was estimated at $400,000.Flooding began after nearly four hours of moderate to heavy rain trained over the rugged, hilly terrain of northern Madison County. The first report was of a mudslide between Marshall and Mars Hill, then Laurel Creek, especially susceptible to flooding during the summer of 2001, overflowed its banks once again, taking 7 or 8 bridges with it and washing a mobile home away.Big Laurel and Shelton Laurel creeks also flooded, stranding 9 families for a couple of days once the roads connecting them to the main highway were washed out.

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 North Carolina in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in North Carolina, 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: 5260961.