Name: Flooding in Kentucky, March 20, 2002
Start: 2002-03-20T04:28
End: 2002-03-20T09:45
Location: Kentucky

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: $500,000
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 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 Jackson, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 20, 2:25 AM EST, 2 hours 3 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 20, 2:25 AM EST, 2 hours 3 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON KY
225 AM EST WED MAR 20 2002

A NEARLY STATIONARY SURFACE TROUGH...FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST
KY...WILL FOCUS TRAINING CLUSTERS OF SHOWERS TODAY. THE NGM...ETA
AND AVN MODELS SHOW THAT THE TROUGH WILL BE SLOW MOVING. THE AREA OF
MOST CONCERN FOR THIS MORNING WILL BE THE EASTERN KY FOOTHILLS WEST
OF A LINE FROM JOHNSON COUNTY TO MCCREARY COUNTY. THE TROUGH WILL
SLOWLY DRIFT SOUTHEAST THROUGH THAT AREA UNTIL AROUND NOONTIME...
AND THEN OVER THE COUNTIES WITH HIGHER TERRAIN EAST OF THE LINE THIS
AFTERNOON. THE ETA AND AVN MODELS SHOW A DOUBLE JET STRUCTURE AT 300
MB OVER EASTERN KY THIS AFTERNOON WHICH COULD ENHANCE THE RAINFALL.
ALTHOUGH THE LATEST QPF GUIDANCE FROM THE HPC INDICATES AROUND A
HALF INCH OF AREAL AVERAGE RAINFALL DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS...
AT LEAST AN INCH SEEMS POSSIBLE BEFORE THE RAIN ENDS THIS EVENING.
FOR THURSDAY...AN ARCTIC COLD FRONT TO THE NORTH WILL PASS THROUGH
LATE IN THE DAY...WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF A RAIN SHOWER. IT WILL
TURN SHARPLY COLDER THURSDAY NIGHT WITH FRIDAY MORNING LOWS AROUND
20. THE NGM MOS TEMPERATURE FORECASTS LOOK MUCH TOO WARM...SO THE
AVN IS PREFERRED.

THE FORECASTS FOR FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY LOOK GOOD AND WILL NOT BE
CHANGED.

IFPS/GFE...THE AVN MOS TEMPERATURES AND WINDS WILL BE USED TO
POPULATE THE GRIDS FOR THE FIRST FOUR PERIODS.

PRELIMINARY CCF...
JKL 53/41 54/20  9122
LOZ 58/41 57/20  9122

.JKL...FLOOD WATCH FOR MOST OF EASTERN KENTUCKY THROUGH THIS
AFTERNOON.

SCHAUB

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Rowan

When: March 20, 4:28 AM EST to 9:45 AM EST
Where: Rowan forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 38.196, -83.421 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Fleming

When: March 20, 4:28 AM EST to 9:45 AM EST
Where: Fleming forecast zone
Property damage: $500,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 38.370, -83.697 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The Licking River flooded due to heavy rains. 75 percent of the homes in Farmers were damaged and numerous roads were flooded.

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 Kentucky in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Kentucky, March 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: 5285765, 5285766.