Flooding in Tennessee, November 28 to 30, 2001

Name: Flooding in Tennessee, November 28 to 30, 2001
Start: 2001-11-28T18:08
End: 2001-11-30T23:59
Location: Tennessee

November 28 to 30, 2001 · NWS MEG · 17 events in 17 counties and zones

Rainfall of between 5 and 11 inches fell on West Tennessee between November 26 and November 29. This produced widespread flooding across the region.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 17 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: 1
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $1.4 million
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 17

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 MEG wrote it up.

Rainfall of between 5 and 11 inches fell on West Tennessee between November 26 and November 29. This produced widespread flooding across the region. Numerous roads were closed. Numerous homes and businesses flooded with as much as 6' of water in some houses. Five bridges washed out. Nearly 500 people had to be evacuated, most of them in Shelby county. Several people were trapped in vehicles and were rescued. One woman was killed in McNairy county when she drove her car into flowing water.

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 Memphis, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Nov 28, 1:56 PM CST, 4 hours 12 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 28, 1:56 PM CST, 4 hours 12 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
156 PM CST WED NOV 28 2001

STATIONARY FRONT ALONG ROUGHLY A NE/SW LINE THRU TUP THIS AFTN. KNQA
SHOWS A LARGE AREA OF MDT-HVY PRECIP POISED TO MOVE INTO WRN PART OF
THE CWFA OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS. SFC BOUNDARY WL MOVE SLIGHTLY
NWWD OVRNGT AS UPR TROF BEGINS TO MOVE OUT OF TX. STRONG OVERRUNNING
WL CONT ACRS THE BOUNDARY OVRNGT WL RESULT IN RAIN...HEAVY AT TIMES
FOR THE ENTIRE CWFA. MAY BE SOME TSTMS S OF THE BNDRY IN THE WARM
SECTOR. N OF THE BNDRY SOME ELEVATED TSTMS POSSIBLE ALSO. TEMPS WL
BE TRICKY OVRNGT AS FNT DEPENDING ON HOW MUCH FRONT MOVES TO THE NW.

VIGOROUS UPR TROF MOVES OUT OF THE TX TH AFTN...BECOMING NEGATIVELY
TITLED. LOW WL STRENGTHEN AND MOVE ACRS NE MS AND ALONG THE TN RIVER
IN THE AFTN. TREMENDOUS UVV ASSOCD WITH SYSTEM THANKS TO AN ENORMOUS
AMOUNT OF PVA. EXPECT RAIN...OCCASIONALLY HEAVY THROUGHOUT THE DAY.
BEST CHANCE FOR SEVERE WEATHER WL BE ON THE WARM SIDE OF THE BNDRY
MAINLY ACRS NE MS THU AFTN. MANY FACTORS COME TOGETHER FOR NE MS WITH
MODERATE INSTABILITY...STRONG LOW LEVEL SHEAR AND STRONG LOW LEVEL
CONVERGENCE IN PLACE IN THE AFTERNOON. WL MENTION THE POSSIBILITY OF
SEVERE STORMS IN ZONES.

TROF MOVES QUICKLY NEWD ON THU NIGHT AND PRECIP WL END BY MIDNIGHT.
SKIES WL REMAIN CLOUDY WITH PLENTY OF LEFT OVER LOW LEVEL MOISTURE
AROUND.

DRY SW FLOW ON FRI. A SHORTWAVE PASSES TO THE N ON SATURDAY AND
MAY RESULT IN A LITTLE MORE CLOUDINESS. SUN-TUE LOOKS DRY WITH FAST
ZONAL FLOW. CHC OF RAIN WED AS SFC HI MOVES OFF THE SE COAST AND
SOME OVERRUNNING DEVELOPS.

.MEG...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH THURSDAY ENTIRE CWFA.
SJM

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

17 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Shelby

When: November 28, 6:08 PM CST to November 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Shelby forecast zone
Property damage: $1.0 million
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.184, -89.896 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Fayette

When: November 28, 6:10 PM CST to November 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Fayette forecast zone
Property damage: $20,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.197, -89.414 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Haywood

When: November 28, 6:35 PM CST to November 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Haywood forecast zone
Property damage: $50,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.583, -89.284 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Tipton

When: November 28, 6:37 PM CST to November 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Tipton forecast zone
Property damage: $100,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.497, -89.759 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Gibson

When: November 28, 7:35 PM CST to November 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Gibson forecast zone
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.997, -88.933 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Crockett

When: November 28, 7:40 PM CST to November 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Crockett forecast zone
Property damage: $25,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.814, -89.139 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Madison

When: November 28, 8:30 PM CST to November 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Madison forecast zone
Property damage: $60,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.608, -88.838 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Chester

When: November 28, 9:00 PM CST to November 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Chester forecast zone
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 35.422, -88.613 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Carroll

When: November 28, 9:55 PM CST to November 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Carroll forecast zone
Property damage: $50,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.973, -88.450 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Henry

When: November 28, 9:57 PM CST to November 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Henry forecast zone
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 36.332, -88.301 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Weakley

When: November 28, 10:00 PM CST to November 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Weakley forecast zone
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 36.298, -88.718 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Dyer

When: November 28, 10:15 PM CST to November 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Dyer forecast zone
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 36.059, -89.414 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Lauderdale

When: November 28, 10:25 PM CST to November 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Lauderdale forecast zone
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.761, -89.631 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Hardeman

When: November 28, 11:30 PM CST to November 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Hardeman forecast zone
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.207, -88.993 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Decatur

When: November 29, 1:45 AM CST to November 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Decatur forecast zone
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD
Coordinates: 35.603, -88.109 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, McNairy

When: November 29, 1:50 AM CST to November 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: McNairy forecast zone
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.175, -88.564 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Hardin

When: November 29, 2:00 AM CST to November 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Hardin forecast zone
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 35.199, -88.184 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Flood, Gibson	2001-11-28	58	Female	Vehicle/Towed Trailer	Direct

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Tennessee in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Tennessee, November 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: 5276169, 5276170, 5276171, 5276172, 5276173, 5276174, 5276175, 5274729, 5274629, 5274630, 5274631, 5274632, 5274633, 5274634, 5274635, 5274636, 5274730.