Flash Flood, Sussex
- When
- July 27, 5:30 PM EST to 7:00 PM EST
- Where
- Sussex County, 4 mi SW of Ellendale
- Reported by
- EMERGENCY MANAGER
- Coordinates
- 38.683, -75.339 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood in Delaware, July 27, 2002
Slow moving thunderstorms with heavy rain produced poor drainage flooding and flooding of creeks in parts of the eastern two-thirds of Sussex County. Adjusted Doppler Radar Storm total estimates averaged between 1 to 3 inches across much of this area.
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
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 happened
The episode as NWS PHI wrote it up.
Slow moving thunderstorms with heavy rain produced poor drainage flooding and flooding of creeks in parts of the eastern two-thirds of Sussex County. Adjusted Doppler Radar Storm total estimates averaged between 1 to 3 inches across much of this area. But storm total estimates reached between 4 and 5 inches at the conjunction of Nanticoke, Cedar Creek and Georgetown Hundreds. Roadway flooding was reported near and along the coasts on Delaware State Routes 1, 26 and 54.
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 Philadelphia/Mount Holly wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 27, 3:30 PM EST, 2 hours earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 27, 3:30 PM EST, 2 hours before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ 430 PM EDT SAT JUL 27 2002 IT APRS PCPN WILL BE LINGERING BEYOND 6 PM ACROSS THE SERN ZNS AND WE WILL CARRY A CHC INTO THE EVE. ALSO PAIR OF SHRT WVS HELPING THE DVLPMNT OF BANDS OF SHRA/TSRA FTHR TO THE W. LATEST MESOETA STOPS THEM SW OF OUR CWA...BUT GIVEN ITS ALRDY INTO OUR SERN ZNS...WE WILL BRING AN EVE CHC BACK INTO PHL METRO AREA. TFG PREV AFD......................................................... WRM FRNT/DEW PT BOUND WILL SLOWLY MOVE THRU FA NEXT 24 HOURS. PRECIP ASSOC WITH FEAT NOW OVER DELMARVA WILL CONTIN INTO EVENING. NEXT FEATURE TO HIT AREA WILL BE VORT MAX MOVING ACROSS TO OUR N. WILL MENT RW FOR NORTH ZONES TONIGHT. AFTER THAT THE SOUP IS ON AND TYPICAL DOG DAYS OF SUMMER WITH HIGH TEMP/HUMIDITY & PM RW/TRW AROUND. WILL NOT ISSUE ANY HEAT ADV AT THIS TIME BUT MAY BE NEEDED FOR MON/TUES. ON MARINE...ALL TRANQUIL. .PHI... DE...NONE. MD...NONE. NJ...NONE. PA...NONE. MARINE...NONE. ZEV
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Jul 27, 2:39 PM EST, 2 hours 51 minutes before
DEZ002>004-NJZ023-024-272300- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ 339 PM EDT SAT JUL 27 2002 ...POOR DRAINAGE FLOODING FROM SLOW MOVING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS... SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE INTO EXTREME SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY AND THROUGH THE SOUTHERN HALF OF DELAWARE THROUGH 6 PM. ISOLATED AMOUNTS UP TO 2 INCHES IN AN HOUR HAVE ALREADY FALLEN AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO AS THEY MOVE INTO SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY AND ALONG THE DELAWARE COAST. PLEASE BE WARY FOR STREET AND POOR DRAINAGE FLOODING...ESPECIALLY ALONG THE IMMEDIATE DELAWARE AND NEW JERSEY SHORES. USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING THROUGH UNDERPASSES THE REST OF THIS AFTERNOON. IF YOU LIVE IN AN AREA THAT IS PRONE TO POOR DRAINAGE FLOODING...BE PREPARED TO MOVE YOUR VEHICLE TO HIGHER GROUND. THE CURRENT TIDES ARE NEAR LOW TIDE WHICH WILL MAKE IT EASIER FOR THE RAIN TO RUN OFF NEAR THE COAST. TFG
Special weather statement, Jul 27, 4:34 PM EST, 56 minutes before
DEZ003-004-272300- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ 534 PM EDT SAT JUL 27 2002 A PAIR OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ARE MOVING THROUGH SUSSEX COUNTY DELAWARE. ONE WAS APPROACHING FENWICK ISLAND. THE SECOND WAS NEAR ELLENDALE. BOTH WERE MOVING SOUTHEAST AT ABOUT 20 MPH. WIND GUSTS TO 40 MPH...FREQUENT DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND RAINFALL RATES OF 2 INCHES PER HOUR ARE LIKELY WITH EACH STORM. A SPECIAL MARINE WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THE COASTAL WATERS. PONDING OF WATER IN POOR DRAINAGE AREAS WILL CONTINUE. TFG
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
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
- Tornadoes and Damaging Winds in Michigan, July 27 to 28, 2002
- Flash Flooding and Damaging Winds in Texas, July 27, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Minnesota, July 27, 2002
- Tornado in Florida, July 27, 2002
- Tornado and Damaging Wind in Pennsylvania, July 27, 2002
- Flash Flooding and Flooding in Ohio, July 27, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Ohio, July 27, 2002
- Flash Flood in West Virginia, July 27, 2002
- Flash Flood in Pennsylvania, July 27, 2002
- Damaging Winds in Iowa, July 27, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Kansas, July 27, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Montana, July 27, 2002
More
Every storm in Delaware in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Delaware, July 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: 5308760.