Flash Flood in Connecticut, September 2, 2002

Name: Flash Flood in Connecticut, September 2, 2002
Start: 2002-09-02T13:30
End: 2002-09-02T17:30
Location: Connecticut

September 2, 2002 · NWS OKX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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: 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 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 New York, NY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 2, 9:15 AM EST, 4 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 2, 9:15 AM EST, 4 hours 15 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED...
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
1015 AM EDT MON SEP 2 2002

VERIFIED SOME FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS THIS MORNING. LSR COMING OUT
SHORTLY.

OTHERWISE...YESTERDAYS GFS HAD THE BEST HANDLE ON THIS LOW. IT
CONTINUES TO SLOWLY DRIFT THIS LOW EASTWARD WHICH SEEMS IN LINE WITH
MSAS SURFACE PRESSURE ANIMATION. ONE CHANGE WILL BE TO LINGER RAIN
ACROSS THE CWA. EXTREME NORTHWEST ZONES WILL BE DRY...THEN SCATTERED
SHOWERS IN AND AROUND NYC...AND OCCASIONAL RAIN TAPERING OFF TO
SCATTERED SHOWERS FURTHER EAST AS THE LOW MOVES EAST AND WEAK UPPER
SUPPORT DOES THE SAME.

WITH PLENTY OF CLOUD COVER AND NORTHEAST WINDS...AGREE WITH LATEST
LAMP NUMBERS AND WILL LOWER MAX TEMPERATURES SLIGHTLY ALL ZONES
THIS AFTERNOON.

WE WILL CONTINUE THE SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY ON SOUTH COASTAL WATERS
FOR BOTH WINDS AND OBVIOUSLY SEAS. LONG ISLAND SOUND AND NY HARBOR
CAN PROBABLY BE DROPPED AT THIS TIME AS WINDS SLOWLY DIMINISH AT
NEARBY LAND STATIONS.

PW

****************3:53 AM DISCUSSION***************

UPDT...WL END PCPN ABT 3 HRS FASTER THAN PRVS THINKING BASED ON CRNT
RDR/STLT LOOPS...

...337 AM AFD...

SHORT TERM:  WHILE MDLS HV COME INTO A LTL BETTER AGREEMENT
(FINALLY)...AM STL NOT CONVINCED THAT THEY ARE TOTALLY THE WAY TO
GO.  LTST RDR MOSAIC AND IR STLT LOOPS SHWG THAT BRK IN RA N OF SFC
LO ALG MID-ATLC IS SLOWLY APCHG CWA.  SFC LO SHUD MOV IN GENL DIR OF
LI BASED ON BEST PRES FALLS HEADING FOR LI S SHORE ATTM.  DO XPCT RA
TO CONT BYND 12Z ACRS MUCH OF THE AREA...FAR NW CWA MAY GET LTL OR
NO MORE RAFL BUT DONT WANT TO OMIT SINCE I DO THINK WELL WRAP SOME
RA BACK INTO THAT AREA.  WL TAPER POPS FM 100 ERN ZNS TO 60 NYZ067
(ORANGE CO).  WL KEEPMENT OF LCLLY HVY RAFL FOR THE AM AS STL A
FAIRLY DECENT BAND OF HVR RA SRN PTN OF APCHG RA AREA.

SKIES CLR OUT SUM TNGT BUT THINK WNDS WL STAY UP JUST ENUF TO KEEP
FG FM FORMING.  TUE LOOKS MILD W/ DECENT SS FOR THE 1ST TIME IN A
FEW DAYS.  FM LLVL WND FLOW W-SW...GENLY TOOK HIER OF GDNC NMBRS FOR
TUE.

LONG TERM:  WK CDFNT MOVS THRU RGN LT WED NITE W/ SCT SHRAS.  THEN A
PROLONGED PD OF NICE/SEASONABLE WX FOR THE REST OF THE WK.  LTL IN
WAY OF SGFNT CHGS TP PRVS LONG RANGE GRIDS/TEXT PRODUCTS.

MARINE:  CONT SCA ON OCEAN WTRS FOR WNDS AND SEAS.  AT LAST
CHEK...44025 STL HOWLING AT 23G29KT W/ 8 WVS AND 30KT SUSTAINED AT
ALSN6.  XPCT WNDS TO COME DOWN BLO SCA CRIT LT THIS AM OR ERLY THIS
AFTN...BUT SEAS LKLY TO RMN ABV 5 CRIT AT LST THRU THIS EVNG.  WL
ALSO CONT MINIMAL SCA FOR NY HRBR AND LI SOUND.

WRKCWF AVBL FOR REQ AND COMMENTS...WRKZFP TO FOLLOW SHORTLY.  FINALS
GONE NLT 0800 UTC.

PRELIM CCF NMBRS TO PONDER...
EWR   75  65  86  69 /  70  10  10  30
MGJ   71  57  83  63 /  60  10  10  30
DXR   71  59  82  65 /  70  10  10  30
NYC   73  66  84  68 /  80  10  10  30
ISP   71  64  82  68 /  90  10   0  30
GON   70  63  77  67 /  90  20   0  30

****************************************

CT...NONE.
NY...NONE.
NJ...NONE.
MARINE...SCA ALL WATERS...ANZ355-353-350.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Sep 2, 9:40 AM EST, 3 hours 50 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
1040 AM EDT MON SEP 2 2002

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0900 AM    WOODSIDE                  NY   FLASH FLOODS
09/02/02   QUEENS                         STREET FLOODING...STALLED
                                          CAR IN FLOODED STREET.
                                          REPORTED BY OBSERVERS

0910 AM    GREENPOINT                NY   FLASH FLOODS
09/02/02   KINGS                          STREET AND HIGHWAY
                                          FLOODING.
                                          REPORTED BY OBSERVERS

0930 AM    BROOKLYN                  NY   FLASH FLOODS
09/02/02   KINGS                          PARTS OF BELT PARKWAY
                                          FLOODED. REPORTED BY
                                          OBSERVERS

0915 AM    LARCHMONT                 NY   FLASH FLOODS
09/02/02   WESTCHESTER                    PARK FLOODED. REPORTED BY
                                          LAW ENFORCEMENT

The radar

The Brookhaven radar (KOKX), 71 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:32 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Fairfield

When: September 2, 1:30 PM EST to 5:30 PM EST
Where: Fairfield County, Stamford
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 41.326, -73.447 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Law enforcement reported that numerous streets in Westport were flooded and had to be closed. A local newspaper reported that portions of Elm, East Main, and Dock Streets had to be closed due to flooding and that three feet of water covered portions of Cove Road in Stamford. The water rose to about two and a half feet deep at the intersection of Meadow and South Main Streets in Norwalk. State Police reported that flash flooding forced them to close the Exit 14 ramp off I-95 North in Norwalk from 230pm to 630pm and that the Route 7 connector's ramp to I-95 south was closed from 3pm to 5pm. Spotter and Official National Weather Service Observations showed that coastal sections of Fairfield County received between 2 and four and a half inches of rain from this event.

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 Connecticut in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Connecticut, September 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: 5320512.