Name: Flash Flood in Pennsylvania, August 3, 2001
Start: 2001-08-03T20:30
End: 2001-08-03T23:00
Location: Pennsylvania

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: None recorded
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 PHI wrote it up.

Thunderstorms with torrential downpours caused flash flooding that damaged a bridge in East Penn Township. The flooding washed away much of the support material (undermining it) and caused a side wall to collapse on the German's Road Bridge. The bridge was expected to be repaired by the end of autumn. In Lehighton, flooding peeled the macadam off a street. Doppler Radar storm total estimates reached between 6 and 7 inches in East Penn Township. This appears in line with the ground truth report of 3.23 inches received from Lehighton. No serious injuries were reported.

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 Philadelphia/Mount Holly wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 3, 7:30 PM EST, 1 hour earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 3, 7:30 PM EST, 1 hour before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
830 PM EDT FRI AUG 3 2001

WILL UPDATE TO 100 PCT NORTH AND TO LIKELY N/W OF PHL BASED ON OBS
AND NEW 18Z PROGS. CELLS HAVE BEEN SLOW MOVING AND SUPPORTIVE OF
MENTION OF PSBLY HEAVY FOR RAIN...SO THIS WILL ALSO BE ADDED TO THE
FCST.

SOME MINOR TEMP ADJSTMNTS BASED ON OBS.

STATIONARY FRONT IS LOCATED FM THE OHIO VALLEY INTO W PA/NY. FRONT
WILL DRIFT TO THE S AND BEGIN TO DISPT. MOST CONCENTRATED SHRA/TSRA
ACTVTY AHEAD OF FRONT FM SE NY INTO CNTRL PA. WFO STATE COLLEGE HAS
PART OF THEIR FA IN A FLASH FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 10 PM THIS EVE. HAVE
GIVEN HIGHEST MAX PCPN VALUES TO PHI FAR W AND N COUNTIES. REFER TO
FCST AND BULLETINS ISSUED BY THE STATE COLLEGE WFO.

WILL TREAT THREAT OF SHRA/TSRA DIURNALLY. GUIDANCE PRODUCTS GIVES A
HIGHER POP TNGT AND TMRW FOR W TO N FA COUNTIES. AFTR DSPTG SYS
PULLS AWAY THIS WEEKEND...NEXT WEEK BEGINS WITH ANOTHER BOUT OF 90+
TEMPS.

.PHI...

DE...NONE.
MD...NONE.
NJ...NONE.
PA...NONE.

RNS

The radar

The Binghamton radar (KBGM), 144 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:29 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Carbon

When: August 3, 8:30 PM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where: Carbon County, Southwest Portion
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 40.918, -75.709 (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

More

Every storm in Pennsylvania in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Pennsylvania, August 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: 5266678.