4 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 4 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
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 Wilmington, OH wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 21, 2:00 PM EST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH 300 PM EDT MON MAY 21 2001 18Z SFC ANALYSIS DEPICTS COLD FRONT OVER ILL...TRAILING RATHER DEEP SFS LPRES OVER WI. SECOND SFC WAVE NOTED OVER ARKANSAS...WHERE WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SUGGESTS VERY GOOD DIVERGENCE ALOFT. DIURNAL CONVECTION AHEAD OF SFC BNDRY BEGINNING TO FIRE OVER WESTERN SXNS OF THE CWFA. LACK OF INSOLATION HAS KEPT THE AREA RELATIVELY STABLE TDY...AND AS A RESULT UPDRAFTS HV BEEN RATHER SMALL AND LACKING IN ORGANIZATION. GIVEN CURRENT WIND FIELDS HWVR...AND WITH SOME HOLES OPENING IN THE CLD CVR...XPCT A CONTD EVOLUTION INTO DEEPER/MORE ORGANIZED CONVECTION WITH MODERATE STRAIGHT LINE WIND POTNL. WL LIKELY SEE A BOX ISSUED BEFORE 4 PM...AND MAY HOLD ZONES A LITTLE LATER IN ANTICIPATION. OTHW...SECOND WAVE PROGGED BY LATEST SHORT RANGE GUID TO BRING PCPN BACK IN AFTER MIDNIGHT. BEST PCPN EFFICENCY AND LOWEST FFG VALUES ARE OVER THE SE AND WL CONT WATCH TNGT. ELSW...WL ALLOW FFA TO EXPIRE ALTHOUGH LATER SHIFTS WL HV TO MONITOR CONVECTIVE TRENDS OVERNIGHT. WL HIT POPS HARDEST EAST TUE...TAPERING TO 60 POPS IN THE NW. WL MENTION +RA STIL IN THE SE...BUT ALLOW MID SHIFT DETERMINE IF FFA NEEDS TO BE EXTENDED. DRYING TREND XPCTD TUE NGT...ALTHOUGH WL HOLD ONTO LOW POPS IN THE SE ERLY. NOT MUCH FORCING ON WED...AND IN FACT AREA LKS TO BE IN BIT OF A DRY SLOT. WL KEEP LOW CHC POPS HWVR GIVEN STEEP LAPSE RATES AND MOIST BNDRY LAYER. TRENDED TWRD WARMER FWC VALUES THROUGHOUT AS AT LEAST A LITTLE SUN XPCTD. .ILN...FLASH FLOOD WATCH TONIGHT SOUTH CENTRAL OHIO AND NORTH CENTRAL KY. JOHNSTONE
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Several roads closed due to heavy rain across the county. A fire house was evacuated in South Webster.
High water over numerous roads in the county.
Child rescued from creek which was in flood. Several roads with high water.
Several roads flooded around Patakala.
Several trees knocked down by strong winds.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Ohio in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Ohio, May 2001
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: 5248962, 5248959, 5248960, 5248961, 5248958.