Flash Flood, Sullivan
- When
- July 3, 3:40 PM EST
- Where
- Sullivan County, Countywide
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 36.513, -82.304 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood in Tennessee, July 3, 2001
Several homes, streets and roads flooded across the county.
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
- 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.
Several homes, streets and roads flooded across the county.
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 Jul 3, 2:39 PM EST, 1 hour 1 minute earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 3, 2:39 PM EST, 1 hour 1 minute before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 339 PM EDT TUE JUL 3 2001 ONGOING CONVECTIVE PRECIPITATION (MAINLY IN THE SOUTHERN FORECAST AREA)...ALONG A SURFACE-BASED CONVERGENCE AXIS WITH MODERATE INSTABILITY...IS LARGELY DIURNALLY BASED AND WILL CONTINUE INTO THIS EVENING. AND...WILL MENTION ISOLATED SEVERE STORM POTENTIAL IN THE SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS THIS EVENING. MEANWHILE...A STRONG MID AND UPPER LVL S/W WILL PROPAGATE SOUTHEAST TONIGHT FROM OVER THE OHIO VALLEY...AND MAINTAIN A THUNDERSTORM COMPLEX AS IT MOVES INTO MARGINAL TO MODERATE INSTABILITY IN THE NORTHERN FORECAST AREA AFTER MIDNIGHT. MESO-ETA HANDLING THIS WEATHER SCENARIO BEST...AND WILL ADVERTISE A LIKELY POP IN THE NORTH/ NORTHEAST FORECAST AREA LATE TONIGHT AND EARLY TUESDAY. AFTER 04/12Z...EXPECT THIS SYSTEM TO RAPIDLY DECAY...AND WILL ADVERTISE SKIES AS BECOMING PARTLY CLOUDY DURING THE AFTERNOON IN THE CENTRAL/ SOUTHERN FORECAST AREA. THERE WILL BE SOME AFTERNOON INSTABILITY IN THIS REGION...AND WILL CONTINUE WITH A 50 POP. THE PASSAGE OF THE H5 S/W LOOKS TO CIRCULATE DRIER MID AND UPPER LVL AIR...AND WILL GO PARTLY CLOUDY FOR THE THIRD PERIOD. STILL... CANNOT RULE OUT SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS AS DEEP NORTHWEST FLOW MAY ADVECT A WEAK DISTURBANCE OVER THE REGION. THURSDAY...LOOKS TO BE THE BEST SPATIAL COVERAGE FOR PRECIPITATION AS A STRONG COLD FRONT LOOKS TO GET INTO AND THROUGH THE FORECAST AREA. MUCH DRIER AND MORE STABLE AIR NORTH OF THE FRONT WILL FILTER IN...AND LOOKS TO SHUT OFF POP/S FOR MOST OF THE WEEKEND. AS FOR TEMPERATURES...A BLEND WAS USED WHERE MORE SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES WERE NOTED. FCSTID = 4 CHA 72 88 70 87 / 50 50 30 50 TYS 71 87 69 84 / 50 50 30 50 TRI 68 84 66 82 / 60 60 30 50 OQT 70 87 68 84 / 50 50 30 50 .MRX... NC...NONE. TN...NONE. VA...NONE. DM
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
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
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Iowa, July 3, 2001
- Flash Flood in North Carolina, July 3, 2001
- Lightning Strike in Louisiana, July 3, 2001
- Lightning Strike in North Carolina, July 3, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Wisconsin, July 3, 2001
- Lightning Strike in South Carolina, July 3, 2001
- Hail in Wyoming, July 3, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Missouri, July 3, 2001
- Damaging Wind in California, July 3, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Illinois, July 3, 2001
- Lightning Strike in North Carolina, July 3, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Florida, July 3, 2001
More
Every storm in Tennessee in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Tennessee, 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: 5261693.