Name: Flash Flooding in Alabama, January 23, 2002
Start: 2002-01-23T04:30
End: 2002-01-23T20:00
Location: Alabama

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 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: $650,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 3

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 BMX wrote it up.

A band of significant rainfall repeatedly doused parts of extreme northwest Alabama and southern middle Tennessee. Radar estimated rainfall in isolated locations as high as 6 to 8 inches, but the majority of the area received 2 to 4 inches of rain. The heaviest rain fell across Lauderdale County and into middle Tennessee. Lauderdale County reported that numerous roads were flooded and impassable. Schools were closed for the entire day. Many residents were evacuated along Shoal Creek in the Goose Shoals area and in a few other locations. One woman was stranded in her home. Colbert County also had numerous roads flooded and impassable. Schools closed at noon. Rainfall and runoff from Tennessee caused several creeks to overflow in Limestone and Lauderdale counties.

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 Birmingham, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 23, 3:36 AM CST, 54 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 23, 3:36 AM CST, 54 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED TO ADD NUMBERS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM, AL
336 AM CST WED JAN 23 2002

ALOFT, SHORTWAVE MOVING OVER THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER REGION WITH
LARGE TROUGH OVER THE WESTERN PARTS OF THE COUNTRY.  AT THE SURFACE,
60 PLUS DEW POINT WORKING NORTHWARD ACROSS PARTS OF WEST AND
SOUTHWEST ALABAMA THIS MORNING.  NETWORK RADARS SHOWING LARGE AREA
OF RAIN...MIXED WITH SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS...COVERING MOST OF THE
TENNESSEE VALLEY REGION OF NORTH ALABAMA.  CURRENTLY THIS LARGE AREA
OF RAIN TAPPERS OFF TO SCATTERED ELEMENTS OVER PARTS OF NORTH
MISSISSIPPI.

GENERALLY, CURRENT AREA RAIN TO MOVE NORTH OF THE AREA THIS MORNING.
WARM, MOIST AIR WILL CONTINUE TO SPREAD ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA
THROUGHOUT THE DAY AND TONIGHT.  MODELS TRENDING TOWARDS BEST CHANCES
OF RAIN FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT ACROSS THE NORTHERN TIER COUNTIES,
ESPECIALLY NORTHWEST.  WILL KEEP MENTION OF SCATTERED CONVECTION
ACROSS THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SECTIONS TODAY AND INTO TONIGHT. RAIN
BECOMES WIDESPREAD AGAIN INTO THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING AS
COLD FRONT MOVES OVER THE AREA AND UPPER TROUGH APPROACHES.  COLD
FRONT EXPECTED TO EXIT AREA FRIDAY AS UPPER TROUGH FINALLY TREKS
ACROSS THE AREA.

PER STAGE 3 DATA, MAIN AXIS OF HEAVY RAINFALL SINCE THE 19TH WAS FROM
THE LIVINGSTON AND YORK AREAS...TO BIRMINGHAM AND CLANTON...TO THE
FORT PAYNE...HEFLIN...AND WEDOWEE AREAS.  ANOTHER SWATH WAS ACROSS
PARTS OF NORTHWEST AND EXTREME NORTH CENTRAL ALABAMA.

SO CURRENT CONCERNS ARE THE PROGRESS OF RAINFALL THIS MORNING.  KMSL
IS UP TO NEAR 1.10 INCHES AND KHSV WAS AROUND 0.55 SINCE 0400 UTC.
HEAVY PRECIPITATION APPEARS TO BE CONFINED TO MAINLY LAUDERDALE
AND COLBERT COUNTIES.  WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR FOR NOW.  FOR THE
NEXT SYSTEM, WILL HOLD OFF ON WATCH AND LET NEXT SHIFT(S) EVALUATE
NEXT MODEL RUN AND PROGRESS OF CURRENT PRECIPITATION AREAS. WILL
ISSUE ANOTHER STATEMENT ADDRESSING THE POTENTIAL HEAVY RAINFALL AND
FLOODING PROBLEMS.

FCSTID = 65
HSV   69  54  64  44 /  70  70 100 100
BHM   71  56  69  50 /  40  40 100 100
MGM   74  56  73  55 /  30  30  70  70

.BMX...
AL...NONE.

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Lauderdale

When: January 23, 4:30 AM CST to 6:00 PM CST
Where: Lauderdale County, Countywide
Property damage: $400,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 34.901, -87.654 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Colbert

When: January 23, 6:00 AM CST to 3:00 PM CST
Where: Colbert County, Countywide
Property damage: $200,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 34.700, -87.805 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Limestone

When: January 23, 3:00 PM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Limestone County, Countywide
Property damage: $50,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 34.810, -86.981 (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 Alabama in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Alabama, January 2002

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: 5279994, 5279995, 5279996.