Flash Flood, Cherokee
- When
- June 12, 10:15 PM CST to June 13, 12:00 AM CST
- Where
- Cherokee County, Columbus
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 37.169, -94.846 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood in Kansas, June 12 to 13, 2002
Doppler radar estimated between two and three and a half inches of rain fell across central Cherokee County producing flash flooding. Several low water crossings were impassable for a few hours.
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 SGF wrote it up.
Doppler radar estimated between two and three and a half inches of rain fell across central Cherokee County producing flash flooding. Several low water crossings were impassable for a few hours. Highway 69A and Flicker roads had the worst flooding and were closed for a period of time.
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 Springfield, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 12, 2:35 PM CST, 7 hours 40 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jun 12, 2:35 PM CST, 7 hours 40 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO 335 PM CDT WED JUN 12 2002 WENT AHEAD AND ISSUED FLOOD WATCH FOR ALL OF THE FORECAST AREA THROUGH NOON THURSDAY. STILL A LITTLE TOO MUCH UNCERTAINTY NOW TO TRY PINNING DOWN TRACK OF MCS ACTIVITY TONIGHT. UPDATED ZONES WILL BE OUT SHORTLY. (PREVIOUS DISCUSSION ATTACHED) MAIN FORECAST ISSUES ARE HEAVY RAIN AND SEVERE POTENTIAL FOR TONIGHT...AND WHETHER OR NOT TO EXTEND AREAL COVERAGE OF FLOOD WATCH FOR TONIGHT. LATEST RADAR SHOWS NORTHERN PORTION OF SECONDARY MCS OVER SOUTHWEST COUNTIES THIS AFTERNOON. ALSO SEE A FEW STORMS POPPING UP ALONG OUR WESTERN BORDER AND OVER SOUTH CENTRAL MO. MORNING CONVECTION HAS LAID OUT SEVERAL OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES. THE MOST OBVIOUS ONE EXTENDS ACROS NORTHEAST OK TO WEST CENTRAL AR. OTHER MORE SUBTLE BOUNDARIES EXTEND BETWEEN OSAGE BEACH AND FORT WOOD...AND OVER SOUTHEAST KS. DEWPOINT TEMPERATURES ARE IN THE LOWER TO MIDDLE 70S WITH A FEW MID TO UPPER 60S IN RAIN COOLED AIR NEAR JOPLIN. MAIN UPPER LEVEL SUPPORT FOR CURRENT MCS IS EXITING EASTERN COUNTIES AT THIS TIME. AT LEAST FOR THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON AND INTO EARLY EVENING...EXPECT SCATTERED STORMS WITH HEAVY RAINFALL TO FIRE UP JUST ABOUT ANYWHERE IN THE FORECAST AREA...AS BREAKS IN CLOUDS...ESPECIALLY OVER EASTERN SECTIONS...HAVE AIDED DESTABILIZATION...AND PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES REMAIN OVER 1.7 INCHES. POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAIN CONTINUES TONIGHT WITH AN MCS OR TWO DEVELOPING SOMEWHERE IN THE CENTRAL PLAINS THIS EVENING AND MOVING EAST AROUND UPPER RIDGE. BASED ON LATEST SATELLITE TRENDS AND MODEL DATA...THERE COULD BE TWO COMPLEXES AFFECTING THE AREA TONIGHT. ONE WHICH WILL DEVELOP OVER NORTHERN KS/SOUTHERN NE AND CLIP CENTRAL MO...AND ANOTHER DEVELOPING OVER SOUTHWEST KS/NORTHERN OK AND MOVING OVER ALREADY SATURATED SOUTH/WEST EDGE OF THE CWA. ALREADY HAVE A FLOOD WATCH GOING FOR THE WESTERN TWO TIER OF COUNTIES AND MAY SPREAD WATCH EASTWARD ACROSS THE REST OF THE FORECAST AREA FOR TONIGHT AND THURSDAY MORNING. SURFACE FRONT STILL HUNG UP OVER NORTHWEST MO/SOUTHEAST NE WILL MOVE ACROSS OUR AREA TOMORROW...WITH COOLER AN DRIER CONDITIONS THROUGH SATURDAY. WENT AHEAD AND PUT POPS IN FOR SUNDAY AND MONDAY. OVERALL TREND HAS BEEN TO SHIFT UPPER TROUGH WESTWARD...PUTTING OUR AREA UNDER MORE CYCLONIC FLOW. AVN ALSO HINTS AT POSSIBLE DUAL JET STRUCTURE FAVORABLE FOR GOOD LIFT OVER THE AREA. ONLY QUESTION WILL BE WHETHER OR NOT ENOUGH MOISTURE MAKES IT BACK THIS FAR NORTH. FCSTID = 17/MMT .SGF... MO...FLOOD WATCH NOON THURSDAY FOR ZONES MOZ055>058...MOZ066>071...MOZ077>083...MOZ088>098...MOZ101>106. KS...FLOOD WATCH NOON THURSDAY FOR ZONES KSZ073...KSZ097...KSZ101.
In the hours before
Local storm report, Jun 12, 8:53 PM CST, 1 hour 22 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
953 PM CDT WED JUN 12 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0948 PM COLUMBUS KS WIND DAMAGE
06/12/02 CHEROKEE TREES DOWN IN TOWN.
REPORTED BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.Local storm report, Jun 12, 9:16 PM CST, 59 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
1016 PM CDT WED JUN 12 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1013 PM CARL JCT MO 60 MPH TSTM GUST
06/12/02 JASPER POWERLINES DOWN.
REPORTED BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.Local storm report, Jun 12, 9:29 PM CST, 46 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
1029 PM CDT WED JUN 12 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1024 PM SENECA MO WIND DAMAGE
06/12/02 NEWTON NUMEROUS TREES
UPROOTED. POWER OUT.
REPORTED BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.Local storm report, Jun 12, 9:44 PM CST, 31 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
1044 PM CDT WED JUN 12 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1044 PM NEOSHO MO WIND DAMAGE
06/12/02 NEWTON TREES DOWN ACROSS TOWN.
REPORTED BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.The radar
The Tulsa radar (KINX), 128 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 04:12 UTC.
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
- Hail and Heavy Rain in Nebraska, June 12, 2002
- High Surf in Hawaii, June 12 to 14, 2002
- Tornado and Flash Flooding in Oklahoma, June 12, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Texas, June 12, 2002
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Iowa, June 12 to 13, 2002
- Flooding in Vermont, June 12 to 13, 2002
- Damaging Winds in Arkansas, June 12, 2002
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Kansas, June 12 to 13, 2002
- Damaging Winds in Missouri, June 12, 2002
- Flooding in New York, June 12 to 13, 2002
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Illinois, June 12 to 13, 2002
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Iowa, June 12 to 13, 2002
More
Every storm in Kansas in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, June 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: 5301267.