Flash Flood in Utah, August 14, 2001

Name: Flash Flood in Utah, August 14, 2001
Start: 2001-08-14T00:00
End: 2001-08-14T04:00
Location: Utah

August 14, 2001 · NWS GJT · 1 event in 1 county or zone

5 inches of rain in 4 hours over the town of Bluff. Several homes and businesses were flooded and parking lots were turned into lakes.

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: $30,000
Crop damage: $30,000
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 GJT wrote it up.

A large complex of slow moving thunderstorms dropped 3.5 inches of rain in 4 hours over the town of Bluff. Several homes and businesses were flooded and parking lots were turned into lakes. A few farmers also reported losses as hay fields were totally flooded and suffered severe damage. It took several days for all of the water to finally runoff.

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 Grand Junction, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 13, 8:27 PM MST, 3 hours 33 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 13, 8:27 PM MST, 3 hours 33 minutes before

WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
927 PM MDT MON AUG 13 2001

FLASH FLOOD THREAT DIMINISHING OVER THE FORECAST AREA AS FIRST
WAVE OF CONVECTION MOVING OUT OF THE REGION.  SOME MINOR MUD/ROCK
SLIDES REPORTED OVER THE SAN JUANS NEAR TELLURIDE...AND IN THE
VICINITY OF MOAB, UT EARLIER THIS EVENING.  SPOTTERS ALSO REPORTED
LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL IN THE DURANGO AREA WITH SOME MINOR STREET
FLOODING.  OTHERWISE...MOST RAINFALL REPORTS WERE LESS THAN ONE HALF
INCH.  STILL SEEING PLENTY OF CONVECTION TO OUR WEST NEAR UPPER
LEVEL TROUGH AXIS OVER ERN NV.  HAVE MADE SOME MINOR ADJUSTMENTS TO
THE 2ND PERIOD TO ACCOUNT FOR A SLOWER ARRIVAL OF THE TROF. ANOTHER
SURGE OF MONSOONAL MOISTURE LOOMS TO OUR SOUTH OVER AZ...AND THIS
WL NEED TO BE WATCHED WITH TROUGH AXIS HANGING TO OUR W.  HAVE ALSO
MADE SOME MINOR ADJUSTMENTS TO OVERNIGHT LOWS TO FIT CURRENT TRENDS.

COLTON

.GJT...NONE.

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, San Juan

When: August 14, 12:00 AM MST to 4:00 AM MST
Where: San Juan County, Bluff
Property damage: $30,000
Crop damage: $30,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 37.626, -109.805 (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

Every storm in Utah in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Utah, 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: 5264334.