1 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
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.
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 Little Rock, AR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 29, 2:50 PM CST, 1 hour 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 350 PM CDT WED MAY 29 2002 STUBBORN STORM SYSTEM ALOFT IN EASTERN OKLAHOMA MAKING VERY SLOW PROGRESS TO THE EAST THIS AFTERNOON. AHEAD OF THE SYSTEM...SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS OCCURRING AND MOVING SLOWLY. GIVEN SLOW STORM MOVEMENT...LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN POSSIBLE ANYWHERE THIS EVENING. FOR EXAMPLE...HAD MORE THAN 4 INCHES OF RAIN THIS MORNING IN SMALL AREA OF WESTERN CALHOUN COUNTY. HIGHWAY 274 BARRICADED FOR A TIME DUE TO HIGH WATER. SYSTEM ALOFT WILL BRING CONTINUED CHANCES FOR SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT/THURSDAY BEFORE FINALLY MOVING SOUTH AND EAST OF REGION. RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD OVER ARKANSAS FROM THE PLAINS OVER THE WEEKEND AND EARLY NEXT WEEK...AND WILL PROMISE DRY/WARMER WEATHER. WEAK COLD FRONT WILL SLOWLY APPROACH FROM THE NORTH BY WEDNESDAY OF NEXT WEEK WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS MENTIONED IN THE FORECAST. FCSTID = 46 HRO 63 78 63 85 / 30 30 20 10 LIT 66 81 66 86 / 40 40 20 10 HOT 66 81 66 87 / 40 30 20 10 PBF 67 82 67 86 / 50 50 30 10 .LZK...NONE.
The Memphis radar (KNQA), 125 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:59 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Flash flooding occurred in the Newport area with several streets covered with high water. A few county roads were also flooded for a period of time.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arkansas in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Arkansas, May 2002
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: 5295997.