Name: Flood in Indiana, May 7 to 24, 2002
Start: 2002-05-07T05:00
End: 2002-05-24T12:00
Location: Indiana

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: $50,000
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 IND wrote it up.

Flooding along Wabash River. Agricultural land and bottomland flood. Some roads closed. The river at Montezuma crested at 27.15 feet on 05/14. The flood stage at Montezuma is 14.0 feet.

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 May 7, 2:30 AM EST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 7, 2:30 AM EST, 2 hours 30 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
230 AM EST TUE MAY 7 2002

FRONTAL BOUNDARY STRETCHES FM LOW PRES IN NRN MI TO N CENTRAL MO  AND
WRN KS. COOLING CLOUD TOPS ON IR PIX ACRS NRN MO AND WRN IL. 88D
STARTING TO SHOW SOME STORM DEVELOPMENT ACRS THE CWA...AHEAD OF THE
MAIN AREA OF STORMS FURTHER WEST ACRS MO AND IL.

FCST WL FOCUS ON PCPN TDY.

WL GO WITH HI POPS TDY AS TSTMS ACRS MO AND IL SHUD PROPAGATE ACRS
THE FA ACCORDING TO 850-300MB THICKNESSES AND CORFIDI VECTORS.
SIMILAR TO MONDAY...EXPECT A BREAK IN THE PCPN THIS AFTERNOON IN THE
WAKE OF THE CURRENT ROUND OF TSTMS.

FRONTAL BOUNDARY TO SLIDE S ACRS INDIANA TDY WITH GOOD MOISTURE AND
VV AVAILABLE TONIGHT. HENCE ANOTHER ROUND OF RW/TSTMS. MODELS IN
GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH LOWER LVL FEATURES BUT NGM/ETA DISAGREE WITH
REGARD WITH WEAK UPPER LVL FEATURES ACRS THE AREA. LIKE THE MORE
ORGANIZED AND STRONGER ETA UPPER LVL FEATURES AS STORMS SHUD BE
GENERATED AHEAD OF DIURNAL LLJ.

FRONT PULL NORTH AGAIN ON WED AND IND WL REMAIN IN THE WARM SECTOR.
CANNOT RULE OUT PCPN FOR WED...BUT MAIN FOCUS SHOULD BE ACRS THE NRN
PART OF THE CWA AS THE FRONT PULLS NORTH.

CD FRONT SWINGS THROUGH ON THURSDAY MORE AND THE RESULT WL BE MORE
SHOWERS AND STORMS.

WITH PCPN CHCS CONTINUING TDY WL KEEP FFA ACRS THE SRN TIER OF
COUNTIES TDY. GOOD WAA OVR THE FCST PD. MAV/FWC TEMPS LOOK GOOD
CONSIDERING H8 TEMPS.

IND...NONE.
PUMA

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 7, 3:56 AM EST, 1 hour 4 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
356 AM EST TUE MAY 07 2002

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

0322 AM    BLOOMINGDALE              IN   FLOOD
05/07/02   PARKE                          WATER FROM CREEK WAS
                                          FLOWING  ON ROADS.
                                          REPORTED BY PUBLIC.

Local storm report, May 7, 4:44 AM EST, 16 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
444 AM EST TUE MAY 07 2002

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

0437 AM    1 N CLINTON               IN   FLOOD
05/07/02   VERMILLION                     WATER FROM FEATHER
                                          CREEK FLOWING ONTO
                                          ROADS.  THERE HAVE BEEN
                                          SOME EVACUATIONS.
                                          REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Parke

When: May 7, 5:00 AM EST to May 24, 12:00 PM EST
Where: Parke forecast zone
Property damage: $50,000
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.774, -87.206 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

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, May 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: 5296331.