Name: Flash Flood in Tennessee, August 4, 2001
Start: 2001-08-04T07:45
End: 2001-08-04T16:00
Location: Tennessee

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

Open the live radar over this ground

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 MRX wrote it up.

Very heavy rain from Friday night into Saturday caused widespread flooding and damage as creeks, streams and rivers overflowed. Twenty homes were damaged in Cocke County, mostly in the Del Rio community.

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 Morristown, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 4, 2:30 AM EST, 5 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 4, 2:30 AM EST, 5 hours 15 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
330 AM EDT SAT AUG 4 2001

CURRENT SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWS A LOW PRESSURE AREA OVER EASTERN
KENTUCKY ALONG A COLD FRONT WHICH STRETCHES FROM WEST VIRGINIA
SOUTHWEST INTO MIDDLE TENNESSEE. THIS FRONT IS EXPECT TO CONTINUE
SLOWLY MOVING SOUTH INTO THE FORECAST AREA TODAY...AND SHOULD BECOME
STATIONARY ALONG THE MOUNTAINS BY THIS EVENING. AFTER THAT...THE
FRONT SHOULD EVENTUALLY WASH OUT. A SMALL MESOSCALE CONVECTIVE
SYSTEM IS CURRENTLY OCCURRING ACROSS SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA AND NORTHEAST
TENNESSEE...AND IS SLOWLY MOVING SOUTHEAST. THIS MCS HAS THE
POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE SOME FLASH FLOODING ACROSS NORTHEAST TENNESSEE
THIS MORNING...BUT THINK THAT THE THREAT WILL BE ISOLATED IN NATURE
AND SHOULD DECREASE LATER THIS MORNING AS THE MCS WEAKENS. THUS...
WILL MENTION 'RAIN HEAVY AT TIMES' FOR THE NORTHEAST MOUNTAIN ZONES.
OTHERWISE...SCATTERED SHOWERS AND TSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS
THE FORECAST AREA TODAY UNTIL THIS FRONT MOVES THROUGH TONIGHT. A
TYPICAL SUMMER-TIME PATTERN APPEARS TO DEVELOP FOR THE FIRST PART OF
THE WEEK...WITH AFTERNOON AND EVENING TSTORMS DEVELOPING EACH DAY...
ESPECIALLY IN THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS. LONG-RANGE MODELS INDICATE THAT
MOISTURE FROM TROPICAL STORM BARRY WILL AFFECT THE FORECAST AREA BY
MID WEEK. THUS...WILL CONTINUE MENTION OF SHOWERS AND TSTORMS FOR
THE REST OF THE WEEK.

AS FOR TEMPS...NGM AND AVN NUMBERS CONTINUE TO BE IN GOOD AGREEMENT
THROUGH THE FORECAST PERIOD AND LOOK REASONABLE. SHOULD BASICALLY BE
A PERSISTENCE FORECAST WITH WARMER TEMPS TOMORROW WITH MORE SUNSHINE
EXPECTED.

THE FOLLOWING NUMBERS ARE PRELIMINARY AN FOR COORDINATION ONLYz:

CHA   86  71  90  71 /  40  10  20  10
TYS   83  70  88  69 /  40  10  20  10
TRI   80  65  86  64 /  50  10  20  10
OQT   83  70  88  69 /  40  10  20  10

.MRX...
NC...NONE.
TN...NONE.
VA...NONE.

DMG

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 4, 5:14 AM EST, 2 hours 31 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN, TN
614 AM EDT SAT AUG 4 2001

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0220 AM    2 SW MT CARMEL            TN   FLASH FLOODS
08/04/01   WASHINGTON                     3.60 INCHES OF RAIN IN
                                          PAST THREE HOURS. STREAMS
                                          AND CREEKS BEGINNING TO
                                          OVERFLOW THEIR BANKS.
                                          REPORTED BY PUBLIC.

0300 AM    5 SE TUSCULUM             TN   FLASH FLOODS
08/04/01   GREENE                         STREAMS AND CREEKS
                                          OVERFLOWING THEIR BANKS,
                                          HIGHWATER ACROSS ROADS,
                                          SEVERAL ROADS CLOSED AND
                                          SEVERAL HOMES EVACUATED IN
                                          MIDDLE CREEK ROAD AREA
                                          SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 107.
                                          REPORTED BY DISPATCH AND
                                          TEMA.

0300 AM    2 SW MT CARMEL            TN   FLASH FLOODS
08/04/01   WASHINGTON                     STREAMS AND CREEKS
                                          CONTINUE TO OVERFLOW THEIR
                                          BANKS AND SEVERAL ROADS
                                          CLOSED DUE TO HIGHWATER
                                          SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 107.
                                          REPORTED BY DISPATCH.

FERRELL

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, Cocke

When: August 4, 7:45 AM EST to 4:00 PM EST
Where: Cocke County, Countywide
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.925, -83.121 (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 Tennessee in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Tennessee, 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: 5268520.