Name: Flash Flooding in Indiana, July 22 to 23, 2002
Start: 2002-07-22T23:00
End: 2002-07-23T00:30
Location: Indiana

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 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: $4,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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 IND wrote it up.

High water was reported on state 28 near Williamsport and U.S. 41 near Attica. Doppler radar estimated between 4 and 5 inches of rain fell in less than 3 hours.

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 Indianapolis, IN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 22, 2:30 PM EST, 8 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 22, 2:30 PM EST, 8 hours 30 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
230 PM EST MON JUL 22 2002

MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT ON THE OVERALL WX PTN FOR THE NEXT FEW
DAYS. UPPR LVL RDG WL GET SUPPRESSED SWWD WITH TIME AS SHORT WV ENERGY
DIGS ACRS THE GRTLKS...RESULTING IN NWLY UPPR FLOW BY MID WEEK. INCOMING
FNT LOOKS TO REACH THE NW ZONES THIS EVEN...AND SHOULD REACH THE SRN
CWA BORDER TUES AFT. FCST FOCUS CENTERS ON POPS WITH FNT.

IN THE NR TERM...A FEW AMS TYPE TSTMS HAVE DVLPD OVR PARTS OF THE
SERN CWA...WHILE MORE ORGANIZED CONVECTION IS STARTING TO DVLP INVOF
CDFNT. THESE SHOULD SAG INTO THE NW CWA OVR THE NEXT FEW HRS. OTHER
AMS TYPE STORMS MAY DVLP ELSEWHERE...BUT THESE SHOULD FADE OUT NR
SUNSET. WITH PWAT VALUES NR 2 INCHES...HVY RAINFALL AMOUTNS PSBL. WK
MID LVL LAPSE RATES COMBINED WITH A LACK OF SIG LO LVL JET SUGGESTS
TSTMS MAY TEND TO WEAKEN QUITE A BIT IN THE EARLY MORN HRS OF TUES
AS THEY SAG THRU THE AREA. WL GO WITH HI POPS OVR THE NWRN ZONES
TAPERING TO CHC POPS IN THE SE.

IN THE LTR PDS...FNT LINGERS OVR THE SRN ZONES THRU THE AFT...BUT
THINK THE BEST INSTABILITY WL BE SWEPT S OF THE AREA BY OUTFLOWS FM
TONIGHT/S ACTVTY. WL KEEP SOME POPS IN THE SRN ZONES THRU EARLY AFT
ON TUES.

IMPROVING CONDS TUES NIGHT/WED AS A MORE STABLE NELY LO LVL FLOW
DVLPS.

BASED ON LO LVL THICKNESSES...NGM MOS NUMBERS LOOK PRETTY GOOD
OVERALL...EXCEPT FOR TUES NIGHT WHERE EXPECTED DEWPTS SUGGEST
RAISING THE GUIDANCE A FEW DEGS.

.IND...NONE.
JAS

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 22, 8:12 PM EST, 2 hours 48 minutes before

INZ021-028>031-035-036-038-043-230130-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
812 PM EST MON JUL 22 2002

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH HAS EXPIRED...

SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE LIKELY TONIGHT...BUT
THE THREAT FOR SEVERE WEATHER HAS ENDED. A FEW THUNDERSTORMS MAY
STILL PRODUCE HEAVY RAIN.

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Warren

When: July 22, 11:00 PM EST to July 23, 12:30 AM EST
Where: Warren County, 1 mi N of Williamsport
Property damage: $2,000
Reported by: BROADCAST MEDIA
Coordinates: 40.347, -87.353 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Fountain

When: July 22, 11:30 PM EST to July 23, 12:30 AM EST
Where: Fountain County, 2 mi S of Attica
Property damage: $2,000
Reported by: DEPT OF HIGHWAYS
Coordinates: 40.121, -87.242 (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 Indiana in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Indiana, 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: 5304103, 5304104.